December 2017 The Good Life

HOW FAMILY DUG OUT OF DEBT Y EVENTS CALENDAR

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December 2017

OPEN FOR FUN AND ADVENTURE

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See you next year

The Sage Hills Trail is closed to protect habitat for wintering mule deer and other wildlife December through March each year. It will reopen for humans on April 1, 2018.

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Contents page 10

family digs out from debt and stress

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Features

6

a son’s suicide

Mom updates book with resources and advice a dozen years after her son took his life

7 reflecting on family’s move to costa rica

Geoff Barry has some advice to people thinking of moving abroad: If you’re thinking of just winging it, DON’T!

10 how one family became debt free

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Enrollment in Health Alliance Medicare depends on contract renewal. The provider network may change at any time. You will receive notice when necessary. Health Alliance Northwest complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex. Spanish: ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, servicios de asistencia lingüística, de forma gratuita, están disponibles para usted.

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At first, the debt seemed insurmountable, but one baby step led to another until the bills were paid off

12 a runner’s revenge

First, it was “getting off the couch” short runs, then regular marathons and now ultra marathons

14 a change of plans

Lief and Mary Carlsen’s bike trip to Europe took a detour, which was just all right with them

Join Sunny FM’s “Dave in the Morning”

Puerto Vallarta

16 One grandmother and two weddings These destination weddings offered quite the experience

18 re-runs

Selling the used to help people today

20 Sweet lodgings

Entrepreneurs creating special experiences for incoming vacationers — including sleeping above a working brewery

Fun in the Sun!!!

Art sketches n Artist Alessandra Piro, page 30 n Actor David Cochran Heath, page 32

January 13, - January 20, 2018

Columns & Departments 24 Pet Tales: A love letter to Valentine 25 Bonnie Orr: Sweet potatoes for cooking 26 June Darling: Rewire your brain to find the good stuff 28 The traveling doctor: Amazing mysteries 30-35 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 36 History: Blair family enticed by apples and grapes 38 That’s life: MIG! December 2017 | The Good Life

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OPENING SHOT

®

Year 11, Number 12 December 2017 The Good Life is published by NCW Good Life, LLC, dba The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 PHONE: (509) 888-6527 EMAIL: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

sales@ncwgoodlife.com ONLINE: www.ncwgoodlife.com FACEBOOK: https://www. facebook.com/NCWGoodLife Editor/Publisher, Mike Cassidy Contributors, Heidi Swoboda, Julie Zielinski, Geoff Barry, Mariann Boyce, Danielle Worley, Lief Carlsen, Vicki Olson Carr, Dan Jordan, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin and Rod Molzahn Advertising: Terry Smith and Lianne Taylor Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Dianne Cornell Ad design, Clint Hollingsworth Video editor, Aaron Cassidy TO SUBSCRIBE: For $25, ($30 out of state address) you can have 12 issues of The Good Life mailed to you or a friend. Send payment to: The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 For circulation questions, email: donna@ncwgoodlife.com BUY A COPY of The Good Life at Safeway stores, Walgreens, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Rhubarb Market, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and Dan’s Food Market (Leavenworth) ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact Terry Smith at (509) 8854922, Lianne Taylor at (509) 6696556 or sales@ncwgoodlife.com WRITE FOR THE GOOD LIFE: We welcome articles about people from Chelan and Douglas counties.

Send your idea to Mike Cassidy at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

The Good Life® is a registered trademark of NCW Good Life, LLC. Copyright 2017

climbing frozen water

By Heidi Swoboda

I generally have

the memory recall of a gnat.

However, I have crystal clear snippets of mountain visions in my head.

Visions of plastic blue Canadian ice, of standing in chest deep snow beneath the drip... Grinning friends, physical exhaustion, disappointment and elation.

Looking down on gracefully circling eagles, and across at crows happily carrying off someone’s lunch.

Being pelted by rockfall from an angry stomping mountain goat.

Dark early morning hours of gear sorting and guidebook consulting.

Reliving and embellishing adventures late into the night. Pink sunrises and sunlight filtering through drooping clouds when the storm clears at last. Watching our girls discover the frozen wonders.

Somehow, although I am a full time professional photographer, I find it difficult to capture a photograph that comes close to

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encompassing what it’s like to experience our incredible Cascade Mountains. I guess I will just have to keep trying.

This photograph is of Bob Buckley on an ice climb on Stevens Pass.

Heidi Swoboda owns Swoboda Photography in Leavenworth. www. swobodaphoto.com.

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December 2017

On the cover

Ultra marathoner Ed Henley powers past Elowah Falls during the Gorge Waterfalls 100K. “Of all the waterfalls on this course, this one at mile 49 was, by far, my favorite,” said Ed. See Ed’s story on page 12.

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editor’s notes

MIKE CASSIDY

Handling money: Cash is king When my wife and I were

first married, we rented a small one-bedroom apartment already furnished.

We both had jobs where we were each paid weekly in cash, in small tan pay envelopes. (Remember that time, when being paid in cash was the norm, and not considered somehow illegal?)

One of the furnished pieces was a heavy bureau that sat in one end of our living/dining room area. Each week, we carefully stacked the bills in a top drawer of the bureau. One stack was for rent, another for groceries, another for utilities, another for personal stuff like haircuts and clothes and another for just crazy fun.

After a while, we noticed some left over cash piling up (I guess we didn’t have to go out that often to find our young married fun), so we started a savings account.

Time has passed, and we’ve moved on into this modern wonder of an age. We can go weeks without actually laying our fingers on cash. Our transactions are done just by flashing any one of a various number of plastic cards in our wallets, or by telling the bank to electronically send payment. We can even wave a smart phone near a register to pay for coffee and goodies.

We have the option of some transactions happening automatically — the robot at one account talking to the robot at our bank, and voila, a series of numbers is transmitted and our bank account dips.

And yet, despite these wonders, I’m not seeing any leftover cash (even the paperless kind)

presents:

“An All-American Christmas”

Familiar music of the season written by American composers.

piling up in our bank account.

Spending is so much easier when there is no cash involved.

I was thinking about this situation as I read Mariann Boyce’s story this month about how she and her husband, Luke, dug themselves out of debt.

Part of their secret was to use an envelope system — similar to our bureau drawer — where money is allotted ahead of time for expected expenses. It’s a great way to stay on budget.

Check out Mariann’s and Luke’s story on page 10.

One more story about cash, only this one comes from a book I read about a 1920’s Wall Street spectator. On Dec. 31 each year, he would make arrangements with a bank to close himself up in a bank vault, surrounded by the actual cash of his net worth.

Piles of the green stuff.

He said the night in the bank made him realize money was real, not just numbers on paper.

Another real story this month is by Julie Zielinski, who has updated a book on her son’s suicide a dozen years ago.

Why in the world would The Good Life talk about suicide during the holiday season, you might ask. It turns out that twice as many first responders die of suicide as from being killed while on duty.

Lowering that number while helping to heal the pain for those left behind is a timely topic any time of the year.

Friday, December 15, 7:30pm at the Numerica PAC with the Leavenworth Christmas Brass Tickets available at the Numerica PAC Box Office wenatcheecolumbiachorale.com ES

M

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Imagine the fun you could have!

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Our

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Best Days

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What was your BEST DAY IN 2017?

Tell us a story about your best day in the past year, and perhaps win a $100 gift certificate to one of our fine advertisers.

Did you climb a mountain, check off an item on your bucket list, cross an ocean, hold a new life in your hand, discover a new talent, set out on a new path, get a surprising check in the mail, make a difference in someone’s life, begin a new chapter in your life...

Write us an email -- 200 to 500 words or so -- telling us of your best day in 2017. Send along some digital photos, too.

We’ll choose one of the writers for a $100 gift certificate to any one of The Good Life’s advertisers from 2017.

But be quick... the deadline is Friday, Dec. 8. Get writing, the prize could go to you... if you’re swift!

It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you keep. Enjoy The Good Life while you have it.

— Mike December 2017 | The Good Life

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MY WORLD

Mother updates book on son’s suicide, urges better prevention U

By Julie Zielinski

nexpected tragedy can strike at any time as our family experienced in 2005 when our oldest son Matthew took his own life.

Seven years after his death I wrote a book, Matt’s Last Call: Surviving Our Protectors, sharing our family’s journey of joys and sorrows. It was a story of hope and of new beginnings and the birth of a passion to reach out to others before it is too late and to comfort those who are survivors of a suicide.

Now, 12 years later I am republishing the book to call on the need for increased emphasis on suicide prevention and what I’ve learned in the last five years.

My son Matthew was an athlete, a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and a Chelan County Sheriff’s Deputy.

But even the training and discipline from those vocations could not save him from death by his own hand at age 27, a result of a failed relationship.

My goal in sharing my story is to save someone else from experiencing the same pain and grief, in particular law enforcement and all first responders.

I have discovered that there is help, and people do care. Matt’s

If you are the survivor of someone close to you who has committed suicide, choose not to define the person by that last, final choice. last Call: Surviving Our Protectors, second edition, talks about my son’s life and family, and the aftermath of his tragic death.

Woven throughout are the seeds of a deep Christian faith that sustain our family, including reflections from Matt’s father.

Five chapters provide words of comfort, hope and help for the grieving, and a resource guide that provides a list of contacts when a person feels overwhelmed by life experiences.

The chapter, The Stigma of Suicide, presents warning signs and other indicators that someone may be contemplating suicide.

One emphasis in the book is the need for training in suicide prevention.

For all first responders (military, law enforcement, firefighters, medical, etc…) training

>> RANDOM QUOTE

One of the greatest discoveries a person makes, one of their great surprises, is to find they can do what they were afraid they couldn’t do.

Henry Ford 6

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Along with a new book cover created

by Lizzy McKnight (Julie’s 15-yearold granddaughter), the second edition of Matt’s Last Call: Surviving Our Protectors included updated resources and a new chapter, Twelve Years Later.

should be required and continual as part of mental wellness.

Currently, it is sporadic at best or missing altogether.

The stigma of suicide and the “hush-hush” nature that surrounds it is the main culprit.

Breaking through the stigma is essential to get the issue out on the table.

Statistics demand it. For example, in America today there are more than two deaths from suicide for every line-of-duty death in law enforcement.

On a personal level, most of us know a family member, a friend, a co-worker who has either taken their own life or who has entertained the thought.

Loneliness, hopelessness from a financial setback, a lost job, a bad health report from the doctor, a failed relationship(s) or the feeling that no one notices or cares are often some of the main reasons given.

Take action. Looking the other way could lead to their demise and a boatload of guilt. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible.

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December 2017

Julie Zielinski

Remind those contemplating suicide that there are many who love them and who care. Completing the act would only leave behind a wake of destruction for those remaining including parents, siblings, friends, coworkers, former teachers, etc…

Gently guide them back, stay with them and enlist the help of medical experts or clergy. You could very well be saving a life.

If you are the survivor of someone close to you who has committed suicide, choose not to define the person by that last, final choice.

They had a life. Remember them by talking about them to others, highlight their accomplishments and do something special to honor them on their birthday and during the holidays. Keep a favorite picture of the person in your home. Speak of the good times you had together.

Keep their memory alive.

Join Julie Zielinski Saturday, Dec. 2, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for the book launch of the Second Edition Matt’s Last Call: Surviving Our Protectors at Encouraging Words, 529 South Wenatchee Ave.

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UPDATE

Reflecting upon our time in Costa Rica

WHAT WOULD WE DO DIFFERENTLY? O

By Geoff Barry

ur family spent 20 months living in Costa Rica.

We returned permanently to Wenatchee at the end of August 2016 so the kids could start school here last fall.

In the year since, I have been contacted for advice on how to plan for such an adventure by friends locally, but also by families in faraway places contemplating their own travels who heard my experiences from previous articles published in The Good Life.

If I had the trip to do over again, my approach to planning would be very different.

In my experience, many of the individuals who dream of (and embark upon) such a family adventure consider themselves highly spontaneous, perhaps the types who like to figure it out as they go.

I am certainly one of these folks. Back in my younger days when planning for a trip meant planning for one. I would buy the Lonely Planet Guide Book for the country of my destination, but would only allow myself to read the sections that discussed culture and history. I forbid myself from reading any particulars pertaining to places I intended to visit for fear that my voyage

Surfing on sunny days in Costa Rica was great for Geoff Barry but he says his family would have benefited from better planning prior to moving to Central America.

might become rigid and “Japanese bus tourist like.”

No hotel reservations. No plans for how I was going to get around once I got there. No need for anything to get me started in my first city. These issues were meant to be sorted out on scene.

I loved these trips. Spontaneous they were. Problematic? For sure. But that was all part of the adventure. I explain these rules to paint a picture of my expectations when my poor wife and I began to discuss our adventure.

I was quite content to figure it all out once we got there.

I’ll sum up my best advice for you now: DON’T DO THAT! There’s a world of difference between eight weeks in India by yourself and building a life overseas for your family.

My wife Celeste did as much planning as I could stand at the time, thank goodness. Those simple plans that included a town, a home and a school largely shaped our experience.

We had felt rushed to get started

While we still had a great adventure, I think it could have been even fuller if we had taken on a more diligent search for our perfect setting. because of concerns the kids were getting older. As a result, before we left, we never found a town that either of us felt was absolutely right.

Particularly for Celeste, she always felt she was in a setting that wasn’t her dream. While we still had a great adventure, I think it could have been even fuller if we had taken on a more diligent search for our perfect setting.

I suggest that the whole family start by making a prioritized

December 2017 | The Good Life

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list. When the sun finally sets on this glorious odyssey, how will you define success?

Focus on the few aspects of your experience you wish to shape most. If Celeste and I had created such a list, I think it would have looked something like this: Find a community where we are safe, comfortable, and that feels right (including climate).

Have a cultural experience where we all create meaningful relationships with locals.

Have ample opportunity (necessity) to further develop our command of Spanish.

Have a reasonable educational experience for the kids.

Be close to a beach with good surfing and other activities like snorkeling.

Our first wish on the list I think is somewhat universal.

Obviously, everyone needs to be safe. However, narrowing our search unnecessarily was another mistake. Because I was

}}} Continued on next page

costa rica }}} Continued from previous page commuting back to Wenatchee, South America was too far.

Mexico, which we both love, was still not truly stable. Costa Rica seemed the clear answer.

We both agree, in retrospect, we would have considered broader options much more thoroughly. Nicaragua and Panama are both stable countries that each have their own advantages.

Furthermore, if I wasn’t tied to work at Confluence Health, we could have considered all of South America with other wonderful countries.

Celeste, who was doing all of our research, tried to inform me that there are many reasons not to go to Costa Rica. The two most important being that it is unjustifiably expensive and that it is so heavily touristed. While not everything is about money, it is quite painful to pay first world prices for third world accommodations.

Next let’s discuss interaction with locals. We had been told that interaction with locals in the town we chose — Nosara — was awesome. Agreed, Ticos (Costa Ricans) are exceptionally wonderful. However, tourism is the largest part of their economy and this influences how they interact with foreigners. We are customers buying tourism.

This goes for any tourist community in the world. If you want an experience where people are as intrigued by you (and not your money) as you are by them, then you should not live near touristy areas.

There are a couple of trade offs. Touristy areas are ready made for foreigners. It’ll be easier to find the house with wi-fi and a pool that is walking distance to restaurants and other amenities. In less touristy locales, you will be left to your own devices to find these niceties.

Furthermore, expats are a

lot of fun. While it was not our original intention, most of our friends with whom we still communicate are from the US, Canada, Sweden, Australia…

And we treasure these folks.

Whether you chose a tourist area or not is a matter of preference, but it’s important to understand that it is likely to affect the nature of your interactions and with whom you will spend your time.

A quick comment on language. Few people are motivated enough to fully immerse themselves in a foreign language and I venture to say none of them are school age children.

If you want your kids to dive in to Spanish, it’s going to need to be the language that they must use on the playground and on the street, not just in the classroom. Bilingual schools have too many English speakers.

If Spanish or another language is important, find a community with a minimum of English speakers (and cross Costa Rica off your list).

The single decision that brings most people to Nosara, Costa Rica, is Del Mar Academy, a wonderful little school in the middle of the jungle with bilingual education.

We also didn’t come to find out until long after we arrived that putting kids in public school is possible even for families on a tourist visa. If we had it to do over, we would have more strongly considered putting the kids in public school. Families who consider this have infinitely more communities to choose from. They also have opportunity to experience the culture of their country much more authentically.

At the time we moved to Nosara, I eagerly anticipated getting back in the water and surfing. My surf experience was an essential part of my time there. Celeste would have very much liked a place with better

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The Barrys write: Our favorite parts of our adventure to Costa Rica Amara (age 11): My favorite part about Costa Rica was my friends. There were so many people from different cultures, teaching me different ways to view the world. My friends all had something different and unique about them, but at the same time we all had our similarities. They taught me not only how to be in Costa Rica, but how to live in it.

Graham (age 10): The part that I enjoyed most about Costa Rica was the ocean. At first we would go and play around on the beach almost every day. Then my dad taught me how to surf and boogie board. Sometimes we would all go out together as a family into the waves. My dad and I surfed a lot and my mom took pictures of us catching cool waves. My sister and I would throw a soccer ball into the waves and try to catch it. Maybe you would like to visit Costa Rica sometime too!

Celeste: My favorite parts of our adventure to Costa Rica were the friends I made and the exotic animals I saw every day. I loved the birds, butterflies, monkeys, sloths and the snakes. One of my favorite memories was the day we got to see a baby sloth on the ground.

This is a very big deal, as they only come down out of the trees (to go poop!) about once a week. We felt like the luckiest family in Costa Rica that day.

Like my daughter, I made friends from around the world that I miss dearly, but the great thing about having friends everywhere is that you get to go see them in their home countries. New adventures await.

Graham rides a boogie board as Amara surfs.

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December 2017

Amara and some of her friends.

An awesome baby sloth.

snorkeling and diving.

A thorough discussion about the characteristics of the town and available activities is something we would have explored in much more detail in retrospect.

What do you anticipate doing with your time day to day while you are there?

Before I close this article I would like to pose two vitally important and related questions. I believe the answers to these questions will shape your family’s interaction with your chosen community: First, how is the family going to sustain itself financially for this extended period? Secondly, what will be your contribution to the community?

For us, this is where we made perhaps our biggest mistake. We had saved for over a decade to be ready to go without income for two years. When the time came, first because I loved my job and second because it increased our perceived security, I elected to continue working in Wenatchee for the duration of our time in Costa Rica.

It turns out that this crazy commute is more common than one would expect. We had several friends with similar arrangements.

While this option is tempting, I would strongly discourage it.

Both personally and in observing other families, the consequences of this decision are considerable.

In fact, divorce seems not to be an uncommon result. With a partner gone for long periods of time, it creates an environment where that individual becomes an outsider, an episodic visitor to the journey they wished to experience fully as a family.

While we escaped divorce, we did return home both eagerly awaiting couples counseling to put our marriage back together.

Other common solutions we observed included being independently wealthy (definitely the way to go if the option is available to you), telecommuting to your home country (very December 2017 | The Good Life

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We made good decisions and made mistakes, learning important lessons from both. common), local employment (often hard to find and low pay), and entrepreneurship (requires skill, experience and risk).

Next, what do you envision being your contribution to the community. Do you have a skill to offer that can serve as a bridge to create friendships?

Part of creating a profound experience is the balance of what you offer to that community.

If you have children, they seem to be natural bridge builders with their own interactions in the community. For me I offered my medical knowledge on an informal basis. Medicine helped me make and strengthen many friendships.

I am very thankful for the opportunity I had with my family to spend nearly two years in Costa Rica. We shared experiences and created memories that only become more valuable with time for each of us.

We made good decisions and made mistakes, learning important lessons from both.

Looking back on our experience, we agree our adventure was very much a success. Decisions we made that we now consider mistakes, we are grateful for having lived. They taught us the most about who we are as a family and what matters.

Don’t be afraid of mistakes on this journey. I assure you, you’ll make many! They will shape you and help your family know itself better. I also hope that you can learn from mine so that yours can be different.

I wish you travels richer than your wildest dreams...

An extended version of this story appears on line at www.ncwgoodlife.com.

How one family

dug out of debt ‘We had my paycheck and his savings to live off — but that was going to run out really fast... With all the school loans and the cars, we were a little over $42,000 in debt.’

W

By Mariann Boyce

hen someone gets out of debt — there’s always a happy story.

But before that, there is the not-so-cozy story of being in debt.

I always lived paycheck to paycheck... barely.

My family and I are close — and sometimes we wanted to just “go out for lunch.” I would constantly get that feeling in my gut of “do I have enough to splurge?”

A lot of times I just had to say “no” or say I didn’t have the money to pay. They usually paid but then I felt so silly that I was a grown woman and should have had this figured out already.

Another issue was that I always had friends who fell on hard times. I so desperately wanted to help out. Sometimes I would have to feed the kids and me cheap hot dogs for the next week just so we could give a meal to a friend and her kids.

As my husband Luke and I sat down to put our “becoming debt free” story together, I was struck by how much of our lives previ-

Mariann and Luke Boyce found that putting cash in envelopes for expected expenses helps them stay on their budget and avoid overspending.

ously shaped our thoughts and attitudes about money.

Without the Lord and a firm grip on church and community life, I think trying to even talk about the subject would have unraveled us to the very core.

In 2013 I was a working single mom with two children under 5, four college loans and owed money on my car.

Wanting to learn how to deal with the debt, I attended a Dave Ramsey class put on by Grace City Church that Luke also joined, although at that time we were only friends.

(For those who don’t know, Dave Ramsey is a businessman, author, radio host, television personality and motivational speaker who after recovering from his own bankruptcy, developed guidelines based on the Bible to help others become

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financially healthy.)

At the time, I really took his message to heart. But it was really slow going when you can only put $10 towards baby step 1 (getting $1,000 into an emergency fund).

At about six months, I wasn’t feeling very successful and gave up. Luke, on the other hand, had already learned to save before the class and had quite a bit in savings.

He also didn’t have any college loans, a wife, kids or any other debt besides his car to worry about. He felt pretty good after taking the course and didn’t really put too much thought into anything else, like budgeting.

Fast forward a few years to our dating and then marriage in June 2015. We had a great start financially mostly because Luke was a saver and he had enough

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December 2017

to get us by.

But things weren’t easy after that.

Along with my loans and Luke owing money on his Jeep, Luke’s hours at work started getting cut.

We had my paycheck and his savings to live off — but that was going to run out really fast.

So we sat down and put our first budget together in August of 2015. As we looked over our financial situation, it was not great. With all the school loans and the cars, we were a little over $42,000 in debt.

Talking about it was really hard. Those first few budget conversations were grueling and painful. We had to really believe it was possible. We leaned heavily on all Dave Ramsey said.

Things like, “take baby steps” and “don’t expect to get your

budget right for at least three months.”

The first thing we did after that was look at ALL the money coming in.

We both have “side jobs” we do every so often that bring in some extra money. Things like voice lessons, piano lessons, singing for funerals and I help with Stage Kids classes and directing some productions, and Luke gets some overtime and sometimes helps close friends and family with plumbing etc...

Then we looked at our two businesses: L-Bow the Clown/ Face Painting and AdvoCare also brought in some money.

After much discussion, we both decided that we would only use our regular jobs (teaching and journeyman plumbing) to handle our everyday/monthly budget and every extra dollar would go towards paying off our debt.

Over the next few months, we really began to see our money personalities.

As Dave puts it, there are four basic types of character traits when it comes to money: FreeSpirits and Savers as well as Nerds and Spenders.

Free Spirits usually don’t like being told what they can or can’t do with their money. Savers obviously like to save. Nerds like to see the numbers and Spenders like to spend.

Luke is a “free-spirited saver” whereas I’m a “nerdy spender.”

Instead of looking at the negative side of our types, we looked at different ways we could both shine and still pay off debt. We put him in charge of the two bank accounts solely for saving and paying off our debt and put me in charge of the monthly budget account.

This way, I didn’t see a bunch of money piling up that I might want to spend and he didn’t have to look at all of the various budget items I kept track of and feel like we were not saving enough.

It was really stressful — but I began to see that it was a dif-

ferent kind of stress. The stress I usually had around bills was always there was no “end” in sight. This stress of putting the budget together and getting it going was going to get easier as we went along.

During all of this time, we continually had to re-commit to getting out of debt. We still had to say no to vacations, restaurants and a lot of gifts for birthdays and Christmas.

(Luke: I’ll admit, though, that when it came to a weekend away with Mariann or a gift that put me over the budget, I was the one that caved and spent the money we hadn’t allotted to this because I felt we needed the romantic and restful time away and my heart got the best of me.)

By Sept. 12, 2017 — we had paid off all $42,000 in debt.

What a feeling.

Guess how we celebrated by putting another budget together so we could keep going.

The biggest difference now

is the new account that we put “extra” money into is now titled “Emergency Fund.”

According to Dave Ramsey, after step 2 of paying off debt, you move to step 3 — stock up your emergency fund with three to six months of savings.

Weird, I know, but when you know how good it feels, you just want to keep going.

Take-aways: You don’t need more money to start getting out of debt.

And, the “envelope system” is a MUST in all areas where you tend to overspend.

The envelope system is taking out a pre-decided amount of cash to put into an envelope for things you tend to overspend on. For me, this was groceries.

Because I have to be on a strict diet of certain things, I would tend to buy too much of a “good thing.”

The idea is that it’s harder to give real cash away than to swipe your card. For me — it’s true.

And I still use it. Trust me, even after paying off the debts, I still couldn’t stay under budget without the cash in hand.

Do we get to take it easy yet?

According to Dave Ramsey, after step #3 (add to the emergency fund) we still have baby steps 4 to 7 to complete before we can start really living and giving the way we want.

Step 4 is invest 15 percent of income into Roth IRA/preretirement, step 5 is create and grow a college fund, step 6 is pay off home and step 7 is build wealth and give.

But, so far, the stress of having to budget has been nowhere near the stress of even shopping for food, Christmas, birthdays, gas, car maintenance, making a house payment and the like when you don’t have the money.

And now, when our family wants to do lunch or our friends need some grocery money — we can say “yes!” and be there to connect.

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11

A runner’s ultra revenge Ed Henley is now running 63 mile marathons — take that, ex-girlfriend

A

By Danielle Worley

t first running was all about revenge for Ed Henley.

He had a girlfriend who ran and when she broke up with him, “I decided to run, too, and I was going to be the best and fastest and win all the races and show her just who she passed up.”

He turned into a regular participant at local trail runs and races, but the ex-girlfriend was nowhere to be found. It didn’t matter, by then Ed was hooked and was running for himself.

That was 2014 and since then, Ed’s passion for the sport has transformed him into an ultrarunner, a select group of athletes that regularly run races with distances greater than 26.2 miles.

Currently Ed is shooting for lottery entrance into the Western States 100, a world famous

ultra race of 100 miles.

He didn’t get from revenge to 100 miles in his sights over night. “I started out on a C-25-K app. It stands for Couch To Five K and it is a plan designed to get a beginner from nothing to a five kilometer distance (3.1 miles) over a span of three months.”

He ran a few 5Ks and gradually increased the distance of his training runs and that’s when the bane of most distance runners started to haunt him. After running a race in the wrong shoes for his physique Ed found that the proper footwear and gear is essential for best performance but won’t necessarily keep regular injuries, aches and pains away.

Despite the discomfort, Ed enjoyed all aspects of running immensely; from product and technique research to the training, to shoe fitting and connect-

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ing with other runners who also shared his lifestyle.

After mastering 5Ks, Ed moved up to half marathons, which were a killer for him.

Then in the fall of 2015 he made his first marathon debut.

“I finished the Oktoberfest Marathon in terrible shape. I had never hurt so bad in my life.” The toll 26.2 miles took on his body was a huge shock to his system, but he was determined to keep running.

Constant runner’s pain like plantar fasciitis and minor shin splints continued to plague him, like they do most long distance runners, and yet he completed two more marathons in 2016 before jumping into the ultra circuit, as his desire for the next bigger and better race got a hold of him.

Ed gorged on Ted Talks and running books full of ultra training advice.

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December 2017

Ed runs through the desert vistas of the Cuyamaca 100K — which he finished in 13 hours and 32 minutes.

His fiancée, Megan Weakley, picked up one of his favorite books at Hastings going out of business sale. Running Your First Ultra by Krissy Moehl, piqued his interest. “I had focused on books by male ultra runners for some reason, which were very basic, and her book blew me away with its depth and detail.”

Ed especially appreciated the time and attention Krissy gave to writing about how an ultrarunner should take care of their crew of people who support them along the course. “Most of the guys books had a paragraph or two on their crew, but Krissy had a whole chapter dedicated to how to take care of your crew.”

He started following her train-

ing plan and following other local and world-renowned ultra runners. This year, he’s completed two different 100K races.

The Gorge Waterfalls 100K he ran last April was his first 100K and longest run up to that point. The course boasts views of countless rushing waterfalls, but for Ed, the best parts of the run were during the sun-filtered segments through the evergreen forest trails where everything seemed right with the world.

As if the scenery wasn’t enough, one of the best known ultra-runners, Jim Walmsley, passed him on the course and another, Yassine Diboun, encouraged him as he went through an aid station.

The combination of minimal injuries, moderate temperatures, beautiful trails and terrain, meeting two famous runners and having a supportive crew, which consisted of his fiancée, two sons, aunt and good friend, at the ready for him were just what he needed to finish in 13 hours and eight minutes and qualify for his Western States 100 ticket.

“Every step past mile 30 of that race was a growing state of blissful amazement for me because up until that day I had never run more than 30 miles.”

Because the Western States 100 course traverses U.S. Forest Service trails and is so wellknown among ultra-runners, entrance is highly sought after but admission is limited to 369 participants.

Permission is granted through only a few means, one of which is a lottery system. There are several races that runners can participate in throughout the year that can grant them a space in the lottery.

When Ed finished the Gorge Waterfalls 100K, he won his lottery ticket; but a ticket wasn’t all he was looking for. He liked the challenge and camaraderie of the culture too much to turn down an offer to run with fellow athletes.

“A buddy of mine still needed to qualify for the WS100 lottery and asked me to run the Cuyamaca 100K with him in San Diego. I only had a month and a half to train for it because of an injury, but I couldn’t say no to a chance to support a fellow runner and friend.”

The bleak desert vistas of the Cuyamaca 100K was nothing like the picturesque and forested Gorge Waterfalls race. He barely finished the grueling 63.2 mile ultra run that included a summit of a 6,500-foot mountain peak.

If it hadn’t been for the phenomenal aid stations, like the “cowboy bar” at mile 39 where they actually served him an icecold beer as he rested, he says he might not have made it.

He did finish with a time of 13 hours and 32 minutes and took away some amazing race swag along with valuable lessons about proper hydration, nutrition and training for different types of elevation and climates

that will come in handy as he continues racing.

Results of the Western States 100 lottery will be announced in December.

In the meantime, Ed trains faithfully. He favors early morning runs on local trails but can also be found on the Apple Capital Loop for club runs on Thursdays with fellow Run Wenatchee trailmates.

Ed sees many more races in his future; it seems the only thing he doesn’t see is an end to his running lifestyle.

“Running has taught me that everything we need to be peaceful, powerful and whole is inside of us. We just have to want it bad enough to be willing to work for it.”

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You can follow Ed’s progression on Instagram at: edhenleyii.

Danielle Worley, a local author writing under the penname Lucy H. Delaney, is one of Ed’s trailmates on Thursday club runs with Run Wenatchee.

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13

Lief thought a liter of German beer did wonders for his German fluency.

Main Street, Wilferdingen, Germany, where Lief and Mary lived for two months.

A change of plans When the hills became too steep, and the town too crowded, these bicyclists in Europe switched gears

M

By Lief Carlsen

ary and I have never bothered to make elaborate travel plans.

“Better to follow one’s nose upon arrival in a foreign land than to be hemmed in by inflexible schedules and commitments” is the way we looked at it.

Our informal approach has often served us well in the past, allowing us to immerse ourselves in local culture and meet a variety of people that a more rigid schedule would have insulated us from. On the other hand, there are certain penalties to be paid for such a carefree attitude — as we learned in early September of this year in Freiburg, Germany.

The seed of our most recent European vacation had been planted two years earlier when we rode our mountain bikes

from Canada to Mexico along the Continental Divide. On that ride, we fell in with a Dutch couple, the Maiwalds, who told us of a wonderful bike trail connecting Amsterdam to Rome.

Captivated by their descriptions of German castles, Alpine valleys, and Italian vineyards, we decided we would do the ride.

Toward that end, we bought special folding bicycles that could be shipped as standard airline luggage. An added bonus, once we arrived in Amsterdam, the suitcases in which the bicycles had traveled could be converted to bicycle trailers in which we could stow our gear.

Our plans, (such as they were), called for us to ride the 500 miles to Freiburg with all the gear required to live for three months in Germany. At Freiburg, we would make arrangements to store all but our

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essential camping gear and, thus lightened, ride over the Alps and through the splendors of northern Italy until we reached Rome.

After touring the essential sights of Rome, we would catch a train back to the charming university town of Freiburg where I planned to enroll in a language school to work on my German. The trip would take about one month. It promised to be a glorious ride.

After assembling our bicycles in our Amsterdam hotel, we headed south through the flat Dutch countryside. There was a lot to see: thatched roofs, tidy little farms, a network of canals, and always paved bicycle paths in every direction. In fact, there were so many bicycle paths in Holland that our problem was one of finding the correct path to follow.

Flat Holland gave way to a rather hilly Belgium and the

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December 2017

“bonus” bicycle trailers became albatrosses around our necks.

Mary’s enthusiasm for the ride seemed to dwindle with each new hill we had to climb.

But the fatal flaw in our plan, we learned upon arrival in Freiburg, was that Freiburg, especially in September, is bursting at the seams with tourists and returning university students.

Despite three days of frantic searching, we were unable to find an available apartment for the three months we would be needing it — at any price!

Additionally, without a dropoff point for our gear, crossing the Alps, which had previously seemed merely challenging, now seemed insurmountable with all our gear in tow.

Mary’s tone changed from discouraged to exasperated to mutinous. She refused to go any farther.

Germans are friendly but only once they get to know you.

Greet a stranger and you get nothing but a blank stare in return.

fat, much to its detriment. German bread is delicious and Germans buy it fresh-baked every day.

German cars are smaller than American cars and their streets are much narrower. Gasoline is very expensive — about $7 a gallon.

Germans are friendly but only once they get to know you. Greet a stranger and you get nothing but a blank stare in return.

Reluctantly, I said Germans are indusgoodbye to our longtrious — they seem to anticipated ride to Rome. always be working and Those gorgeous Alpine vagrancy is nearly nonvistas and the sensuous Mary, with her bicycle suitcase that became a trailer, watches some tourists pedal a “rail existent. The hardest hills of Tuscany that I bike.” thing about learning had so often daydreamed German is that they have about would have to be shelved little town that was an excellent Just about anywhere you want to go in Germany, you can go on a about 100 ways of saying “the” for a later date. But where to go place to experience everyday paved path built specifically for and a liter of German beer does from there?

German life. bicycles. wonders for one’s fluency (or so What had originally been the I wasted no time immersing I purchased a map of bicycle it seemed to me). secondary part of our European myself in language studies at the trails in and around Karlsruhe In summary, what had been vacation, German language local language academy while and every weekend, weather conceived as a challenging study, now took center stage. If Mary busied herself with keeppermitting, Mary and I visited bicycle journey through some Freiburg wouldn’t have us, we ing house, hiking through the the numerous castles, museums of the most historic and scenic would find another city that surrounding hills, and Zumba and scenic towns within ridplaces on earth evolved into a would. classes at a fitness studio. ing distance without ever being prolonged case of cultural imAnd what we found was Nor were our bicycles underhassled by speeding cars and mersion.

Karlsruhe, an unassuming city utilized. My commute each day trucks.

Have we learned a lesson and 90 miles north of Freiburg with encompassed 25 miles of scenic So what was my impression of is our next vacation going to be reasonable rent and several lanbicycle paths into and out of the a packaged tour of bus rides to guage schools. city. Bicyclists comprise a signif- everyday German life?

German homes are built to tourist landmarks and musePrior to our on-the-fly change icant fraction of commuters in last — centuries, that is. No ums? NOT A CHANCE! of plans, neither of us had given Karlsruhe and the city provides wood-framed houses around Karlsruhe and surroundings any excellent avenues for that mode Lief and Mary Carlsen are retired.

Karlsruhe. Everything is stuccoconsideration. But Wilferdingen, of transportation.

When not wintering in Arizona or covered block with tile roofs and the suburb of Karlsruhe where Indeed, Germany as a whole bicycle trekking at summer’s end, massive doors and windows. we actually lived, turned out to has gone to great lengths to they are enjoying their mountaintop German bacon has almost no be a comfortable and affordable meet the needs of bicycle riders. log home in Chelan.

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15

One grandmother

&

two special weddings

I

By Donna Cassidy

f you are fortunate enough to live long enough, you may well attend your grandchildren’s weddings.

Wenatchee grandmother Joanne LawheadReimen attended two very different kinds of granddaughter’s weddings about a month apart this year.

One was in Budapest, Hungary and one was in Annapolis, Maryland.

On Aug. 6, she traveled to Budapest to her granddaughter, Natalie Hersel’s wedding to Daniel Egly, who is from Hungary.

Natalie is the daughter of Wayne and Gerry Hersel, of Wenatchee.

Daniel and Natalie were married in a 16th Century castle in Keszthely. Joanne and other wedding guests got to stay there for two nights.

“The wedding was beautiful and the reception was gorgeous with flowers flown in from Italy,” said Joanne.

They had the traditional four-tiered wedding cake and another cake, that is a replica of the castle and is from a 400-year-old recipe. It is a Hungarian tradition that the bride smashes the cake and how many pieces of cake there are, that is how many children they will have. (Daniel said the cake smashed into two pieces, Natalie said six.)

While in Budapest, the wedding guests went to a 500-year-old winery on the north side of Lake Balaton that sits in a 12th Century castle on the hill.

“Daniel told us the history of the castle and it is owned by Daniel’s cousin. The labels on the bottles bear the name of Egly,”

16

Natalie Joanne Hersel and Dániel Péter Egly joined together in marriage on Aug. 11, in front of family and friends at the Festetics Palace in Keszthely, Hungary.

said Joanne.

“We went on a dinner cruise on the Danube River complete with Hungarian dancers.

We passed the house of Parliament, which is lit up at night and all the bridges are lit up at night, too.”

On Sept.14 she traveled to Annapolis, Maryland to granddaughter Lindsay France’s

| The Good Life

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wedding. Lindsay is the daughter of Greg and Karen France, of Wenatchee, and is a TV reporter in Washington D.C. She was Apple Blossom Queen in 1999.

Her husband Ben is a Navy Seal. “Military guidelines say I cannot reveal his last name nor can his face be clearly printed in the media,” said Joanne.

December 2017

Lindsay and Ben were married in the Naval Academy Chapel in a military wedding.

Lindsay and Ben were married in the Naval Academy’s Chapel in a military wedding. After the ceremony, they walked down the stairs under the traditional swords of many cadets.

“After the ceremony we went to the Officer’s Club for the reception. Ben is Jewish so they did the traditional breaking of the glass and the sitting in the chairs of the bride and groom as the groomsmen held them up and down to the music,” said Joanne.

“Annapolis is a beautiful old town. Some churches date back 300 years. The Naval Academy was established in 1845 with a class of 50 students. In 1850 the school became the United States Naval Academy. They have expanded from five midshipmen to a brigade of 4,400 midshipmen and from seven to 600 faculty members.”

The town is situated on the Chesapeak Bay. “We had lunch at the famous restaurant Chick and Ruth’s featured on the food channel,” said Joanne.

“We walked along the historic part of the city where all the houses have plaques on the outside of the house, saying the date it was built. They have to keep the homes restored to the original state.

“I felt really pampered at both

weddings because I had my hair and makeup done. At Natalie’s wedding the make up artist’s name was Krisztian Makkai, he does Naomi Campbell’s makeup.

At Lindsay’s wedding, she had three makeup artists who do her makeup every morning before

Joanne Lawhead-Reimen talks with her granddaughter, Lindsay France prior to the wedding.

she goes on TV. I never saw so many brushes and makeup containers. It was a very special treat.

“My experiences that I have shared of my two granddaughters weddings will be forever in my memory bank,” Joanne

added.

Lindsay and Ben live in Washington D.C. and Natalie and Daniel live in Las Vegas.

Got a good story to tell? email: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

2014-2017

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17

>>

Volunteers

Re-Runs: Selling the used to help seniors I

photos and story

By Vicki Olson Carr

n bygone days an assembly of apple warehouses and packing sheds dating from the 1940s, a café, a fish hatchery and several homes made up the little community of Chelan Station, where packed fruit was loaded onto railroad cars for shipment.

When larger fruit co-ops took the apple industry away, this little spot by the train tracks along the Columbia River became a quiet, lonely place of empty warehouses with only a train running nonstop through it now and then.

This scene changed several years ago when Highway 97 was re-routed along the east side of the Columbia River from Wenatchee and Beebe Bridge brought traffic into the area.

Now Chelan Station is a beehive of activity from winemaking and bottling to boat and RV storage, and home to a fruit packing supplier, a freight company, a U-Haul outlet and a second hand store called ReRuns.

Re-Runs keeps expanding as donations come flooding in from people who are downsizing, relocating or redecorating.

Local and transplanted retired members of the senior center were the ones who planned and opened the second hand store to earn funds to support the Chelan Senior Center at 534 East Trow Avenue in Chelan.

Barbara Brouner managed the

Travis Farrar with his son, Dylan, look at a Christmas tree at Re-Runs.

store for six years. She enjoyed encouraging others to join in the job of sorting, cleaning, dusting and pricing donations to sell.

“This was enjoyable to me,” she said with a smile. “It really was…” Barbara especially enjoyed arranging donations into what she called “seasonal” displays with themes that were appropriate during the calendar year: Valentines Day, St. Patrick’s Day, summer time, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Right now Re-Runs has nooks and crannies full of Christmas goodies, from pre-lit artificial Christmas trees to wreaths to colorful lights, candles, figurines and angels, to that jolly gift giver himself named St. Nicholas, Father Christmas or Santa Claus.

Relatives and friends bring in children whose eyes light up with wonder at all the beautiful Christmas decorations.

John Olson, a Tacoma realtor retired back to hometown Chelan, has been building shelves for the room filled with

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| The Good Life

“But, most importantly, Re-Runs helps people who just don’t have very much to get what they need.”

Barbara Brouner used her energy and her organizational skills to manage Re-Runs for six years.

building materials and electrical and plumbing supplies. Sports equipment was added to the mix designed to appeal to male shoppers.

Other volunteers decided the area should be named John’s Man Cave.

John said he had three reasons

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December 2017

why he chooses to work at ReRuns.

First, the Chelan Senior Center has a financial shortfall and the money from this store makes up for that. Next, Re-Runs helps people with estate dissolutions by accepting donations, and that helps the environment by keeping stuff out of the landfills.

“But, most importantly, ReRuns helps people who just don’t have very much to get what they need,” he said.

John and retired Chelan teacher Ron Huffer do all the heavy lifting and furniture displays.

Antique dealer Marilyn Grover drives over each week from Douglas County where she and her husband reside in Douglas’s

Seasonal items are included in a range of used goods at Re-Runs.

former general store and post office, which is also full of antiques. She is assistant manager and takes care of the book room also known as The Library.

Marilyn is very busy now making the Christmas displays appealing to customers. Early in November one customer bought $600 worth of second-hand Christmas merchandise, as a result.

Eight volunteers in all have kept Re-Runs open and running Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Volunteer Janet Liberty was a high school business teacher in the Bellevue School District and also retired to her hometown.

“I do a lot of work behind the scenes down here,” she said, “unpacking and sorting donations, restocking shelves, breaking down boxes and taking them up to the recycle center. I spent a lot of this summer sorting through Christmas things… and I love working for an organization which is useful and so giving to others.”

Tor Bloss, a new Chelan resident and volunteer, had two successful booths in an antique center in Snohomish for several years: Remember When and Cathie’s Attic.

She turned a three-story house in Sedro Woolley into Picket Fence Antiques, another profit-

able endeavor.

Now Tor uses her knowledge and savvy every week to carefully price collectables and vintage items.

She’s also the markdown expert.

Re-Runs is a good place to find low-priced furniture and household items. There are often a dozen vehicles lined up at the door, and cashiers often have to work fast to keep the check out line moving.

But Barbara said with a grin, “That busyness was a good thing. . .and now that I’ve retired I hope Re-Runs will continue to be a place where people can enjoy shopping for what they need and want.”

I’m so grateful for my friends and clients. May you all have a happy, healthy and memorable holiday season.

Windermere Real Estate/NCW

Cell: 509-679-4625

“DON’T MAKE A MOVE WITHOUT ME!”

Pam@Windermere.com www.WenatcheeValleyProperty.com

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19

We are here for you!

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Barely visible even to those who know about it, this older motel has been well cared for. Though it retains a mid-century vibe, it’s part of a refreshing, friendly approach to accessible vacation lodging.

Hidden finds Whether snuggling in close to the river or sleeping above a working brewery, these Niche vacation properties offer unusual ‘Eureka! I found it!’ moments Story by Susan Lagsdin Photos by Donna Cassidy

You may well be a savvy

traveler, but unless you’ve hunted for holiday-overflow rooms or were hoping for a nearby weekend away from kids, it’s possible you’ve never searched the internet, specifically Airbnb, for local rentals.

These two charming spots we’ve ferreted out are just part of a surprisingly large network of vacation housing that’s available here, and they are distinguished by their charm, their different origins and their low profile — as in, “Eureka! I found it!”

This first spot is easy to miss, yet is hidden in plain sight.

When you think of eight cabins and a house on the river, there’s a tendency to over-think the grandeur of the locale, but if you follow the directions (coowner Cale Genenbacher reiterates, “Believe me — it really

is the very last right turn from Wenatchee before the bridge into Leavenworth.”) it’s laughably simple.

A narrow asphalt driveway twists you down through timber to just above the south bank of the Wenatchee River where you can glance way up at, but not necessarily hear, the highway into town.

Cale and his business partner Johannes Ariens, working as Loge (a Dutch word pronounced “lodge”) are in the midst of developing what may become a hotspot in our region’s hospitality industry.

A surfer-friendly hostel the duo built in Westport has been a success for them since it opened this last Memorial Day, and the Leavenworth project will closely follow that model.

Like its predecessor, it will have special appeal to active sporting folks who want their four-season skiing, hiking and biking lives to be both way beyond cookie-cutter and reason-

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| The Good Life

ably priced.

A year-round sportsman (with West Point, the army and a year at Microsoft in his past) at 30 Cale has played well and lived simply and says, “I couldn’t have traveled the country and the world without hostels — they were just what I needed. This house will offer that kind of affordable communal living.”

The house is configured for two big bunkrooms, a bathroom, a lounge and shared kitchen. It will also offer amenities he sometimes missed: a privacy curtain, bed lights, enough storage for a duffel and coded electronic locks.

Cale is also the father of toddlers, and knows that for couples or families, the cabins may be more appealing. The partners closed on the property Nov. 1, and the eight stand-alone structures are rentable right now, with reservations filling.

They were recently and tastefully updated by the previous owner, but Cale’s eager to outfit

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December 2017

Loge co-owner Cale Genenbacher is pleased that each unit has a back deck with a close-up riverfront view.

Just a little R&R (renovation and repair) will make the eight cabins even more hospitable.

them further. “We’re really going to make these nice for winter visitors: ski racks near a bench with a cupholder, boot driers, glove warmers… maybe an outdoor heater.”

At around 500 square feet, each bedroom/living room/bath cabin is sensibly luxurious, and each has a back porch perched right over the river (where Cale and Johannes will add some safety barriers).

House and cabins are in good shape. That leaves the business partners time to create their dream space, hoping for the March 2018 completion of Loge Leavenworth: a friendly, fullyintegrated hostel, cabin and camping destination that offers not just an easy walk to both downtown festivities and to the scenic riverfront, but a sense of community.

That’s what will make this

Comfortable new seating, rustic wainscoting, easy-care floors and lots of light make the cabins a welcoming place to hang around and relax or to use as a sports basecamp.

The previous owner updated with features like this free-standing rock sink.

The cabins’ shoreline location makes them irreplaceable, so Loge confines cooking to the hostel house or the communal patio.

December 2017 | The Good Life

property different, and they’re banking on its uniqueness as a primary draw.

That means judicious leveling and building retaining walls, and retrofitting patio and parking pads.

The two owners of Loge, a little company with a friendly presence, know that young travelers today value community — their tribe — and a sense of belonging to a place.

Cale said, “We’re opening up a few areas above the river for meeting and making friends — picture an outdoor kitchen with people cooking together on the grills and sharing food, the sound of the river, their kids playing on the lawn, sitting around the campfire into the night telling stories….”

And arching high above and www.ncwgoodlife.com

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far to the left is a bridge where unsuspecting drivers wend their way into town.

T

he Dog and Pony Loft is a different creature entirely.

It’s not within walking distance of even one touristy amenity, it’s not grandfathered in to an irreplaceably close spot on the water, and it can sleep at best one couple, maybe with a smallish child.

And, unless you know the highroads and byroads of south Cashmere, it’s a little tough to find in a treed family-dogs-andhorses neighborhood with long driveways and an eclectic mix of outbuildings.

Owners Kristen and Joe Nestor innkeepers for about a

}}} Continued on next page

The “little old log cabin” look that attracts travelers on Airbnb is authentic.

Joe and Kristen Nestor saw function in a shed way past its prime, and now the ground floor holds their business and the top is a rentable room.

Hidden finds }}} Continued from previous page

year, like it that way.

And, oh, do Airbnb patrons love it that way. The company recently sent a film crew to its

unspectacular location to make a promotional video.

What gives? Why the repeat visitors (some from South Africa, Australia, Holland)

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ABOVE: Re-used wood of all kinds contributes to the room’s hominess. Joe handcrafted this sink unit from an old door with its original hardware; selective repurposing yielded other fun elements on the property.

AT LEFT: Kristen and Joe first renovated their upstairs attic room for visiting family and friends, and in less than a year of opening it to travelers they’ve met dozens of new people, some of whom are repeat customers.

and rave reviews that make it an Airbnb “Superhost” lodging with a consistent 4.5/5 star rating? Could it be because it’s tough to find (the first time) and totally unpretentious, and that it’s gained an anti-establishment following? Possibly, but there are other more winning factors.

First, the living unit is darn cute. Originally renovated as a spare room for family and friends, it’s the upstairs of an old wooden shop building with some surprising decorator touches: an immense tilesurround Roman tub levered into an attic corner, stairs from December 2017 | The Good Life

a fruit orchard, a bed frame fashioned from pallets, walls and counters of recycled barn doors and window frames with ancient hardware intact, jeweltoned fabrics, a board and beam ceiling.

Plus a big window and a covered porch with a view to the bucolic scene of two paint horses in a pasture.

The friendly, ever-welcoming family yard is another draw.

“Sometimes when we’re having a barbecue outside with the neighbors, we’ll just invite whoever’s upstairs. They love it!”

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Contrary to their first B&B fears, Kristen and Joe are delighted with the almost 100 percent perfect people they’ve attracted. “They clean up, they’re either really quiet or really fun, they leave gifts and nice notes — it’s been no trouble at all.” Their son Kaden, 5, is a good playmate for visitors’ kids, too.

OK — here’s another reason why people might love it there.

The beer.

Dog and Pony Brewery beer is delicious and is made downstairs in the same old log building.

The Nestors were involved for years in a few craft breweries in the area, and when they cast about for a new adjunct to their day jobs, their entrepreneurship (plus his engineering and brew science degrees) led them to one more go at the business.

“I remember thinking — well, it’s the same old dog and pony show,” said Joe. But in many ways it isn’t. This brewery is on the couple’s own property, there are no co-investors, it’s tiny, they use excellent Washington state ingredients, and for reasons that pass all understanding, they neither advertise nor distribute to retailers — and business is booming.

They hand-sell a lot of beer, enough that they custom-built a canning machine — the first in the state for an enterprise this small.

Regular customers come by for growlers and cases, their “tap-truck” travels to festivals, and B&B folks taste-test it on site and take it back home with them.

Joe consults for larger breweries, and, “We’re going to put in a tasting room, like the wineries,” Kristen said. But so far, they have no distribution stream or expansion plans.

Their visitors, however, get special treatment when they check in.

Joe explained, “We realized we could put either chocolates or a can of beer on the pillows. The beer worked out fine.”

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Childhood horse grew into a horse for children S

uzanne Grassell recently said goodbye to her 37-year old horse, Valentine. The grey Arabian mare had been a part of her life for 30 years.

“She was my dream horse,” said Suzanne. “I begged for a horse for years, and my parents finally bought her for my birthday. Growing up, we tried everything — English and western riding, barrels, games and trails.

Because she would do it all, we would win high-point awards.”

In later life, Valentine taught Suzanne’s children to ride. “All of my children have ridden Valentine. My six-year old daughter, Annalise, has become quite an accomplished rider.”

Suzanne also owns Valentine’s only son, 27-year-old Banner, and a 22-year-old pinto named Sampson.

“These horses have been a huge part of my life. Riding gives children so much confidence, and Valentine in particular has been wonderful with children. She has taught so many of our friends to ride, and has even visited a local daycare.

“Even in her very old age, Valentine was always beautiful in my eyes. I want people to know that old horses can be worth their weight in gold. She had a truly great heart, and we will really miss her.”

Suzanne Grassell works for Chelan PUD and is also a bronze sculpture artist.

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Valentine and Suzanne, circa 1989.

Valentine and Annalise, May 2017

December 2017

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column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

These potatoes sweet to cook with

2 teaspoons ground cumin 1/4 cup fresh lime juice 1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley Salt

S

weet potatoes and yams are two names for the same vegetable sold in the local grocery stores.

Some grocers mistakenly label sweet potatoes with yellow skins as yams; they label the red/purple tuber as a sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes originated in South America and are members of the bindweed/morning glory family.

Yams are truly a different vegetable, a type of the yucca that is dry, pale and starchy with a tough, thick brown skin.

This tuber is eaten in Africa and parts of Asia.

Why is there a confusion over which is which?

It apparently comes from a marketing campaign. Louisiana wanted buyers to know that their sweet potatoes were better and different, so they called them Yams. I have a Cajun cookbook that only uses the term yam.

Many people grow sweet potato vines in hanging baskets.

You can eat the underground tubers from your patio pots, but it takes a bit of effort to make edible. Harvest the large tubers being careful not to break or cut into them. Store them at 85 degrees with 80 percent humidity for 10 days.

The curing converts the starch to sugar. I used a cardboard apple box lined with plastic with an old towel over the top. I laid the tubers in the box and placed it on the heat mat that I use in the spring to germinate seeds.

It was a fun project with delicious results. What fun to present home-grown sweet potatoes for a family dinner (To be truthful, it was one of those life projects that I only had to do once just to know I had done it.)

ABOVE: Try savvy sweet potatoes this month.

AT LEFT: Yam or sweet potato? The dense brown tuber in the foreground is the only yam in this picture.

I prefer the sweet potatoes with dark orange flesh because it adds so much interest to the dinner plate. You can substitute sweet potatoes with lighter colored flesh.

Unless they have been made into French fries or chips, sweet potatoes are a healthy carbohydrate. They are also versatile since sweet potatoes are tolerant of frying, baking, microwaving, boiling, mashing and steaming.

Sweet potatoes can be substituted for pumpkin in many recipes. It is amazing that they are not included in our meals every week.

Oddly, most sweet potato recipes guild the lily with the addition of sugar, marshmallows, maple syrup, pineapple and the like.

When I lived in Louisiana, sweet potato pie appeared at December 2017 | The Good Life

family dinners nearly every week. The name of this vegetable is “SWEET” potato, and it needs no more sugar.

In fact, it melds well with savory. Have you tried cooking sweet potatoes with rosemary, curry, tarragon, ginger, marjoram or thyme?

Sweet red peppers and sweet potatoes I love sweet bell peppers. If you cannot find them fresh, the roasted red peppers packed in a bottle for use with Mediterranean food will do nicely.

1 hour; serves 6 1 bottle of roasted peppers or 3 large red, sweet peppers 4 medium-sized red sweet potatoes 4 cloves garlic 2 teaspoons chili powder—your choice of how hot www.ncwgoodlife.com

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Put the peppers on a baking sheet and roast at 500 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool in a paper bag and then peel and seed.

Slice the peppers into small squares.

Roast the potatoes at the same time until they are soft enough to squeeze — about 30-35 minutes. Let cool, then peel and cut into cubes.

Mix all the other ingredients together.

Reheat in the oven just before serving.

Garnish with cilantro or parsley.

Sweet potatoes with coconut This recipe I love because it is not cloyingly sweet and could be served as a dessert or as a dinner vegetable with a curry dish.

1 hour cooking; 350 degrees Serves 4 as a dessert, 6 as a vegetable Make this dish in the oven ahead of time and re-heat in the microwave.

1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes 3 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup hot water 1/2 cup shredded, dried coconut 4 tablespoons sour cream Salt Bake whole sweet potatoes until tender — about 30 minutes.

Combine all the other ingredients.

Break open the sweet potatoes and scoop the flesh from the skins.

Compost the skins Stir the sweet potato and the combined ingredients.

Bake for 20 minutes until slightly browned. Serve hot.

Bonnie Orr — the dirt diva — cooks and gardens in East Wenatchee.

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column moving up to the good life

june darling

Re-boot your brain to find the good stuff “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

— Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

I

n 1987, Dr. Joan Borysenko wrote a book, Minding the Body, Mending the Mind, which sold over 400,000 copies.

For the past 30 years, I’ve wanted to meet Joan. For me Joan was the first reputable person who could articulate how our bodies, thoughts, and emotions are connected — and what that connection implies for how we might live the good life.

Borysenko’s background is impressive: doctorate in medical sciences, postdoctoral fellowships in both behavioral medicine and psychoneuroimmunology, as well as a licensed psychologist.

When I recently heard she was offering a small workshop, my husband and I jumped at the opportunity. We didn’t care what the topic was, we just wanted to meet the legend in a small, private setting.

Good thing that we were open to almost anything. The workshop was entitled “The Art of Writing Spiritual Memoir: See-

... the Nazi regime lasted a decade; while the Benedictine order continues to click right along after 1,500 years of caring for others. ing the Invisible Thread of Grace Throughout Your Life.”

Intriguing concept, but not exactly what I was expecting from a scientist. I wasn’t sure how that subject would work out for John and me. How would we think about “grace” and even “spiritual”? Tricky words. Then there was going to be all this writing and life reflection. Not sure I wanted to get into all that.

The setting for the workshop, Harmony Hill, was also a surprise. Harmony Hill is a retreat and wellness center originally designed for people coping with cancer. Our place was a little cottage that we shared with four others. Welcoming, comfortable, and a bit on the rustic side. Two shared bathrooms for six of us.

I could feel my comfort zone stretching already.

Our first group meeting was

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in the dining hall. We ate the most colorful food imaginable.

Edible flowers were a part of the cuisine. I grew up in the South — East Tennessee. We didn’t eat a lot of flowers.

We began our sessions each day with someone gonging, or playing a singing bowl, and then we practiced various types of group meditation. Not how we typically called meetings to order in the South either (where, by the way, I had experienced a whole lot of doctrine and dogma, but not so much grace).

Eventually the question was asked, “What do you mean by ‘grace?’” How are you thinking about “spiritual?’” The underlying, unspoken question I hoped to hear answered was: “Why does it matter?”

As we tossed the grace question around, most seemed to agree that grace was essentially a feeling of being blessed without working for it.

But many confidentially told me that their lives had not been very blessed. They could see very little grace. It was going to be awfully hard to find any blessing, much less a continual thread of it. The whole thing seemed like an exercise in futility. Pretty depressing.

Joan went on to explain that

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December 2017

seeing grace involves taking a spiritual view of things. She quoted noted Harvard MD and major researcher on adult development, George Vaillant, who wrote that we could understand spirituality not with our heads, but rather with our hearts, with our emotions, specific emotions. Emotions that psychiatry has woefully and quite unfortunately neglected.

Vaillant, a brilliant psychiatrist, noted that the American Handbook of Psychiatry allotted thousands of pages to anxiety and depression, but a line or two to the emotions that keep us psychologically well, attached, and connected to each other.

Vaillant stresses the importance of what he calls the spiritual emotions — gratitude, hope, awe, love, compassion, forgiveness, faith and joy which were originally grounded in a larger, deeper, cosmic sense of meaning and connection.

When religions are true to their essence, this is what they do, Vaillant claims. They continually call us back to the journey of continually developing love, compassion, hope….

into a close family.

Why am I telling you all this right now as December rolls around? Because the holidays can be stressful, lonely, and depressing — so can the days leading up to the holidays and those that follow. We may not see a lot of grace.

We can work on the HTGS (hunting the good stuff) installment plan not only to buffer the bad stuff we experience, but also to permanently kick up the joy as we absorb the good stuff.

We can remember to take at least 10 seconds here and there to do things like notice and remember the acts of kindness we see, receive and give to others.

We can dwell on that second of awe we experience when we see the sunshine hit the Columbia River, or we can stop for a moment before we streak down the top of Mission Ridge and just soak in the beauty of our Valley.

As we convened our last circle at Harmony Hill, I looked around at the incredibly beautiful, transformed people I had met — some with different sexual preferences, some with different accents, all with unique stories.

We had found grace together as we wrote, listened to Joan, heard each other’s stories, ate flowers, and savored the good. I choked up as my heart warmed.

I realized that… well, I loved them.

During this sacred season, how might you go to your heart to uncover and dwell on the good you find there: a bit of awe, hope, love, compassion, forgiveness, joy, gratitude, or faith — and move up to The Good Life?

June Darling, Ph.D. can be contacted at drjunedarling1@gmail.com; website: www.summitgroupresources. com. Her bio and many of her books can be found at amazon.com/author/ junedarling.

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If these “spiritual emotions” are not cultivated, not only are individuals unlikely to thrive, but civilizations are unlikely to survive, Vaillant claims. He points out that the Nazi regime lasted a decade; while the Benedictine order continues to click right along after 1,500 years of caring for others.

The neurobiology of felt spiritual emotions activates our parasympathetic nervous system, according to Borysenko, and affects every cell in our body, as well as our relationships with each other.

Here’s what Joan suggests, particularly if you’ve had trouble seeing grace. Re-sculpt your brain. The brain is malleable, it can be changed. We watched a live video of neurons connecting to convince us.

In November’s column, I mentioned the HTGS (Hunting The Good Stuff) practice. If we want to re-wire the brain, we need to “install” the good. That is the terminology of neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson.

How we do this is by dwelling on the good, holding on to it — that is, taking at least 10 seconds to experience the good stuff deeply, to enjoy and savor it. That’s how new neuronal connections grow.

As I think back to my family of origin — especially to my father’s side of the family — they knew all about dwelling on things, but their focus was on grudges. They continually brought up times of when someone had hurt them or done them wrong.

The drama was exciting. It was the Hatfields and McCoys re-enacted all over again by the Carpenters.

All died early deaths from heart attacks and strokes. Many had debilitating rheumatoid arthritis. And though we know many things contribute to bad health, I doubt their adept installation of negative emotions helped.

For sure, the internal drama prevented them from developing

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>>

column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Mysteries too amazing to comprehend In the late 1950’s I was a sci-

ence major in pre-med at the University of Nebraska.

One of the requirements for medical school then was to have a year of physics study. When I look back at those classes compared to what is being taught now about quantum physics and other complexities, my physics was more like a level one course of “physics for beginners.”

Approximately 25 years later, my oldest son, Steve graduated from Stanford as a physics major. So much had changed from my physics studies to his that it was like he was speaking a new “foreign” language.

Steve went on to many entrepreneurial ventures and in recent years has been consulting and producing documentary films.

His latest film, to be released next year, is called Finding Galileo. He showed me a trailer of his interview with Pope Francis’s

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science advisor as well as several physicists in Switzerland and other European countries.

Last summer several of these scientists joined Steve in Madras, Oregon, to watch the eclipse of the sun.

Steve obviously lives in a different world than the one I knew that revolved exclusively around medicine.

Recently I saw a picture of him on Facebook taken at Cal Tech with the physicists that most recently won the Nobel Prize for physics.

This prize for physics was awarded to three physicists whose findings proved that Albert Einstein was right. For two years they were trying to detect faint ripples in the universe called gravitational waves before they finally spotted one using two laser devices, whose beams were almost the speed of light.

These lasers were located in Hanford and the other in Livingston, Louisiana. These

gravitational waves were a result of two black holes colliding.

Black holes are a result of a star burning out and collapsing into a black hole. The first detection resulted from a crash 1.3 billion light-years away.

This seems beyond mere human comprehension especially when we are told that a light year is 5.88 trillion miles. For me that was really a mind-blowing realization of the vastness of our universe.

Recently I watched the National Geographic series titled Genius, the history of Einstein and his impact on our lives today. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there were a cluster of brilliant mathematicians and physicists in Europe and particularly in Germany who were part of a great revolution in physics.

Einstein was only in his 20s when he sent three articles he had written to the most prestigious scientific journal at that time. The first was the explana-

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December 2017

tion that atoms really existed, the second laid the foundation for quantum mechanics and the third presented his theory of relativity. Einstein became an overnight sensation.

Einstein thought there was a gravitational field diffused throughout space that was actually space itself. He thought space was one of the material components of the world. Later a brilliant student, Bernhard Riemann, postulated that space curves around matter, around the sun and planets and stars.

Einstein predicted that time also curves and that time passes more quickly the farther way from earth one is.

Einstein also showed, through a mathematical equation, that space is continually expanding.

In 1900 the German physicist Max Planck postulated that energy was distributed in “quanta”

Our universe is thought to be about 13.5 billion years old. Given that our species originated in southern Africa about 200,000 years ago, we haven’t been around that long. or lumps of energy. Five years later Einstein suggested these packets of energy were real, and also that light was made up of particles of light that later were called photons.

Thanks to the Dane, Niels Bohr, his mathematical equations of quantum theory finally appeared.

The consequences of the equations of quantum mechanics is that they are now used daily by physicists, engineers, chemists and biologists.

Without quantum physics there would be none of the devices that we all rely on in our daily lives including transistors, computer hard drives, smart phones and lasers.

We have come a long way since 1450, when it was thought that the earth was flat and that wheels drove the sun, stars and the moon. Prevailing thinking was also that the earth was the center of the known universe.

Most of us take the spin-offs from quantum theory and scientific research for granted, since they have become such an integral part of our every day life.

It saddens me to think that we have so many people, especially in Washington D.C., who are science deniers, even though they, too, benefit daily from these same science discoveries.

These deniers are often the same ones who deny climate change as being a result of human activity particularly due

to carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

Despite the near unanimous opinion from the scientific community to the contrary, the coal and oil money seems to speak louder than rational scientific thought. As has been said, the one who pays the piper calls the tune.

(However, a bit of good news is after I wrote the first draft of this article, a massive U.S. government report was released agreeing that the climate is warming and finally agreeing that humans are the cause.)

The recent idea floated by our current president to cut funding for basic science research, is not only shortsighted, but seems oblivious to the economic benefits that result from spin-offs from basic science research.

Our universe is thought to be about 13.5 billion years old.

Given that our species originated in southern Africa about 200,000 years ago, we haven’t been around that long.

About 100,000 years ago, our species started migrating out of Africa. We all carry the same DNA despite the differences in our skin color. When we physicians operate on patients or scope their insides, once we get past that thin layer of pigment in the epidermis, we see that we are all the same inside.

Having traveled worldwide in my later years, meeting people of many races and ethnic groups, I find very little difference between us other than language.

We humans are all part of the world we see around us. We are made up of the same atoms and same light signals as the pines in the mountains and the stars in the galaxies. We are all miracles.

We have billions of neurons in

our brains that help us to make our decisions about our existence and how we live our lives.

We are told that we each have as many neurons in our brains as there are stars in our galaxy.

If you think of that when you see the night sky on a clear night, you cannot help but feel awe and gratitude, even more so when you realize that there are a billion more galaxies out there.

It has been said that it is our nature to love and to be honest.

My hope is that some day, before

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

— Albert Einstein Jim Brown, M.D., is a retired gastroenterologist who has practiced for 38 years in the Wenatchee area. He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.

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it is too late, that will be the norm.

We all have a duty to care for each other as well as to protect and preserve this miraculous home we call “earth.”

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Waxing eloquent Artist etches the topography of her past

F

By Susan Lagsdin

ood on the plate, furnishings and fabrics, the color of walls, custom-made cards to friends — all precise and all creative expression.

For years Alessandra Piro brought her keen and educated graphic artist’s eye for color, texture and composition to her own home.

She honed her skill as friends asked for her design advice, and eventually it escalated into a freelance career in Denver and in Wenatchee since 1988, where she worked with, among others, the clients of local residential builder Fred Dowdy.

“Those really important art school elements I learned at the start fit right in to interior design,” she said.

Her 30 years in the design profession — all while raising a family — were satisfying, but another passion was always pulling her.

Finally, in 2014 she became what she wanted to be: a fine artist (in both senses of the phrase).

It was a pivotal year. With her adult children away from home and settled elsewhere, Alessandra took a few classes at WVC to refresh her long-past art school experience and just started painting.

At 61 she’s a woman with a clear purpose.

“I always knew that sometime down the road I’d have my time,” Alessandra said. “Now I feel like I’m working so fast… trying to make up for 30 years of not painting.”

If the pace sounds a bit frenzied, not so the overall effect of her work. Alessandra’s chosen medium is encaustic (the Greek root means “to torch or burn”), but ironically her

30

Alessandra Piro with her Downstream to Leavenworth, cold wax, oil, graphite on birch panel.

“Everything else seems to drop away. I’m in the zone, almost like an adrenalin high.” paintings are cool, studied, composed, easy on the eye.

There’s no immediate feeling that they are intricately wrought in a medium that defies predictability.

Realistic encaustics are rare — they lend themselves best to expression and abstraction because, “You never really have perfect control of it,” said Alessandra. “Encaustic is more like exploration than painting.”

Encaustic is also not for sissies. It means adroitly handling a flaming torch and hot beeswax. And it requires an extraordinary amount of patience to apply layer upon layer (up to 80) of wax that’s at every step etched, excavated, scraped and sculpted, sometimes with other materials imbedded: ash, sand, stones, beads or metallic

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strips — the additive possibilities are endless.

What Alessandra has come to love in her paintings is the lush and luminous quality that defines the medium and is hard to create with any other.

An ancient art form, encaustic is relatively new in the United States, so after Alessandra first learned about it in a Connecticut artist’s studio, she had to hunt for monographs and videos to supplant her first and only lesson.

She was a local pioneer — now an easier medium, a gooey cold wax pre-mixed with pigments, is available.

Her first studio was upstairs in her son’s former bedroom, but recently she’s commandeered the dining area of her Wenatchee home for more space. The room is all white paint and tarps, and walls have become hanging surfaces.

She’s in her element when she paints.

“Everything else seems to drop away. I’m in the zone, almost like an adrenalin high,” she said. “It’s the solitary activity that I relish — just me, my supplies and my music.”

But her solitary art is often bolstered by

December 2017

fun stuff what to do around here for the next month Homegrown Country Jam, every first and third Monday, 7 – 10 p.m.

Riverside Pub. NCW BLUES JAM, every second and fourth Monday. 7 – 10 p.m. Riverside Pub. Wenatchee Paddle Club, every Tuesday, 9 a.m. open paddle, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30 a.m. masters crew rowing, Wednesdays, 6 p.m. novice kayak paddle group, Saturdays, 7 a.m. masters crew rowing. Info: wenatcheepaddle.org.

Upper Valley Running Club Run, every Tuesday night through the fall, 4:30 – 6 p.m. check in time.

Maps available for a marked 3 mile trail route. Run or walk. Participate 10 or more times and earn a run club tech tee. Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort. Info: sleepinglady.com.

Wenatchee Tributary II shows the topography surrounding the confluence of the Wenatchee River and the Columbia River. It is 24 inches by 24 inches by 2 inches cold wax, oil and graphite.

the critical companionship of friends. Alessandra meets regularly with the “220” group, local female artists who bonded in Scott Bailey’s art classes and who offer each other advice and empathy in good doses. (“Sometimes I need them to tell me — ‘just stop!’ on a painting,” she said.)

Alessandra’s work has been accepted into prestigious encaustic art shows elsewhere, but her recent show at Caffé Mela entitled Confluence is a victory of another kind. The maplike trac-

ings of river, cliff and canyon, lightly textured in dreamlike tones, are recognizable symbols and artifacts that remind us of where we live.

It is not only her largest local exhibit, “It’s really the topography of my life,” she said. “All the places I’ve loved — Lake Chelan, up the Icicle, the Methow — all those memories are here in my paintings.”

And every day she goes back to her studio, loving the work, making more paintings, making up for lost time.

Please Us! Join

Saturday,January 20th 6:00p.m. - 9:00p.m.

TICKETS: $50 members $55 non-members Join us for music, drinks, tasty bites and fun.

Call Lyn at the museum for details.

(509) 888-6255

127 S MISSION ST. WENATCHE, WA 98801 (509) 888-6240 wenatcheevalleymuseum.org

Saturday January 20th | 6:00pm - 9:00pm

TICKETS | $50 for members and $55 for non-members Join us for music, drinks, tasty bites, and fun.

December 2017 | The Good Life

Weekly Club Runs, every Thursday check in between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Pybus Public Market south entrance. Either a 5k or 10k walk or run on the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail. Complete 10 weekly runs and receive a free shirt. Cost: free (other than a smile).

2 Left Feet, every Thursday, 7 – 9 p.m. 2 Left Feet is a loose organization of local dance enthusiasts who would like to see more dancing in the Wenatchee Valley. Beginner lesson at the top of the hour followed by carefree social dancing. No partner necessary to join in the fun.

Dance style will be 1940s swing with a bit of salsa, blues, waltz or tango thrown in. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Game Night, every 4th Friday.

Board games, card games or any games you bring. Open to families and all ages. Hosted by Pacific Crest Church. Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Wenatchee Farmers Market comes indoors, every Saturday, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Pybus Public Market.

Jam at the Crow, 7 – 10 p.m.

Every first Sunday. The Club Crow in Cashmere, 108 1/2 Cottage Ave. Cost: free.

Christmas Lighting Festival, 12/1, Over 1/2 million lights light up every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Christmas with live musical performance of your favorite

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Christmas songs with St. Nickolaus arriving at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sundays festivities kick into gear starting at noon. Downtown Leavenworth. Cost: free. Info: Leavenworth.org.

Small Town Christmas, 12/1 – 12/25, noon to midnight. Fun family events each weekend: Santa photos, free holiday matinees, children’s activities and more. Downtown Chelan. Info: historicchelan. org/small-town-christmas.

Russ Hepler, 12/1 – 12/14, 9 am.

– 1 p.m. Monday – Thursday. Art showing at Robert Graves Gallery.

On Wenatchee Valley College campus. Cost: free. Info: robertgravesgallery.org.

First Friday events Include: *Two Rivers Art Gallery, 12/1, 5 – 8 p.m. Featuring the contemporary impressionist paintings by Jennifer Evenhus. Music by guitarist Lance Tigner. Wines by Cougar Crest Winery. Complimentary refreshments. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: 2riversgallery.com. *Tumbleweed Bead Co., 12/1, 5-7 p.m. Refreshments served. 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com. *Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 12/1, 5.

– 8 p.m. Light refreshments. Info: Wenatchee.org. *Wells House, 12/1, 5 – 8 p.m.

Come check out the holiday decorations and see the recent renovations. Tours available. Light refreshments served.

Seth Garrido, 12/1, 6 – 8 p.m. Live music on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Winter Life Snowshoe Tours, 12/2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 31, (every Saturday and Sunday)10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Free guided snowshoe tours that begin at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery. Visit the hatchery to see juvenile fish and the guided tour is on the Icicle Creek Nature Trail. Cost: free. Info: 548-7641.

Bah Humbug, 12/1, 2, 6:30 p.m. and 12/2, 1:30 p.m. Come share the magic of this musical adaptation

}}} Continued on next page

>>

The Art Life

WHAT TO DO

We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com

}}} Continued from previous page of everyone’s favorite Christmas classic. Live performance by Stage Kids of WA. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $13 - $19. Info: numericapac.org.

A Handbell Christmas, 12/1, 7:30 p.m. Celebrate the holiday season with Leavenworth’s Marlin Handbell Ringers and friends. Singers Maren Cagle and David Harvill, flute duo Susan Ballinger and Amy Carlson and more. Snowy Owl Theater.

Cost: $22 advance or $24 at the door.

Leavenworth Village Voices Together at Christmas, 12/1 and 12/8 at 7:30 p.m. and 12/10 at 4 pm. The choir aims to inspire the Christmas spirit by sharing the joy and hope of Christmas with a variety of sacred, secular and even humorous choral pieces. Featured guest artists include pianist Steve Morton, the Christmas Brass, Gracie Camp, and the Village Voices Ladies’ Ensemble. Leavenworth Church of the Nazarene at 111 Ski Hill Drive. Info: www.leavenworthvillagevoices.org.

Christmas Lighting craft fair, 12/2, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Leavenworth Senior Center. Info: 548-6666.

Christmas in Cashmere, 12/2, 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. Enjoy a complimentary warm beverage, holiday treats, goodie bags, kids craft station, festive music and entertainment as you cozy up around a fire pit or take a photo at a Christmas themed photo stand with family and friends awaiting the arrival of the big man himself – Santa Claus.

NCW Woodworker’s Guild show, 12/2, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. 12/3, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Chairs, rockers, wall cabinets, bar stools, tables, sideboard and small boxes on display.

Autumn Doucet will be on hand to demonstrate her carving skills. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Wenatchee Valley Humane Society brunch, 12/2, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Wreath raffle, giving tree and other wonderful ways to celebrate the season of giving. Pybus Public Market. Cost: $30, raffle tickets, $5. Info: wenatcheehumane.joinme. org/2017luncheon.

Wenatchee Riverfront Railway’s Christmas runs, 12/2, 16,

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

noon – 4 pm. Ride the mini train.

155 N Worthen, east end of the railroad pedestrian bridge. Cost: $2.

Santa Events, 12/2, 4:30 p.m.

Downtown Wenatchee. Santa pictures 12/9, 10, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Free pizza, photos, and crafts with Santa on 12/9. Wenatchee Convention Center. Info: wendowntown.org.

Babette’s Feast, 12/2, 5:30 p.m.

Movie and multi-course dining experience, featuring Chef Richard Kitos. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $65 includes movie, meal and drinks. Info: icicle.org.

Mingle and Jingle, 12/3, noon.

Come get in the Holiday spirit.

Downtown Wenatchee.

Santa Arrives, 12/3, 1 p.m. Santa arrives by helicopter at Pybus Public Market. Photos with kids to follow. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Bronn Journey Christmas Concert, 12/5, 6, 7, 7:30 p.m.

Bronn, Katherine and the harp bring music that is nothing short of glorious. Community United Methodist Church, Leavenworth. Info: leavenworthumc.org.

Wenatchee Big Band in Concert, 12/6, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Live performance. Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Backcountry film festival, 12/6, 7 p.m. The festival is hosted by the Wenatchee-based nonprofit, El Sendero Backcountry Ski and Snowshoe Club. The festival showcases eight inspirational and thought-provoking films that embody El Sendero’s mission to promote and protect winter wildlands and access for human-powered snow sports on public lands. The films communicate issues that impact quiet winter recreation and the environment or tell an interesting story about fun on the snow.

Raffle, films and refreshments.

Numerica Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $15, kids 12 and under free.

Info: numericapac.org.

Sip Sip Hooray, 12/7, 6 – 10 p.m.

GWATA’s annual holiday party. Includes a full dinner by Ring-A-Bell’s Catering, complimentary champagne toast, music and fun raffle prizes plus a no –host bar. BPOE Ballroom. Cost: $40 member, $55 public. Info: gwata.org.

The Saddle Rockers, 12/8, 6 – 8 p.m. Live music on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info:

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32

| The Good Life

David Cochran Heath plays the last day in the life of Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa with his wife Fanny.

The voice: Creating a satisfying, rewarding life in theater and beyond “B

By Susan Lagsdin

eing an actor kind of caught me by surprise,” explained David Cochran Heath, recently retired from a satisfying and life-sustaining 31 years in the theater.

To local actors, most of whom freely donate their years of hours to the stage, this sounds like a dream come true.

It wasn’t so much a dream as a plan that got sidelined for a while.

How did he luck into a long, full life in the theater?

In 1986 David had a perfectly usable drama degree from West-

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December 2017

ern Michigan University but had knocked around Leavenworth for a few years doing a total of seven unrelated odd jobs.

However, with a wife and kids and some strong resolve, he got himself over the pass to an open audition in Seattle hosted by Christian-oriented theaters from around the country. There his skill set, which included a deep, clear voice and scenery-building experience, won him a position at non-profit Lamb’s Theater in San Diego.

Off went the Heaths to sunny Southern California, where his wife Beth soon took a job in Lamb’s front office, his young

As Toad, in Wind in the Willow with the washer women.

The Lamb’s Theater is “Good theater that reflected Christian values. It’s a dark world, and we intended to be a light in it.”

kids grew up hanging around the theater, and David worked steadily for three decades.

The Lamb’s Theater staff and crew and repertory company were paid close to equity wages (to the envy of regional theater neighbors) and because they all needed to multitask on and off stage to keep the theater solvent, they created strong bonds.

David dispelled a misconception. “We weren’t ‘bathrobe drama’ (picture Christmas and

Easter at the altar) — we were just doing really good theater that reflected Christian values.

It’s a dark world, and we intended to be a light in it.”

They did plays by, among others, Shakespeare, Shaw, O’Neill, Ionesco and Albee, some heavier or more profound than the rest, but, “Each one demonstrated,” David said, “some kind of faith and hope. They show us that we are not alone.”

He calculates a life-list of 150 December 2017 | The Good Life

Playing the captain in Detective Story, the play that was the inspiration for TV’s Barney Miller.

different roles. Enviably strong leads like Salieri, Quasimodo, Bottom, Elwood Dowd and Atticus Finch were pure pleasure; he admits of some of the smaller parts he played, “Sometimes those supporting roles seemed not especially creative — they were just hard work.”

Theater drew him in as a young student actor and it held him as an accomplished stage veteran until just 18 months ago, when he and Beth retired to Leavenworth.

Back to family, back to the Northwest, and back to a kind of drama that piqued David’s interest years ago: talking books. Audiotapes, discs, devices, downloads… the terms change, but ever since his fascination with The Green Hornet on his parents’ radio, he has loved listening to stories. And he loves reading them.

Halfway through his stage career, a small audio publisher was impressed with David’s Scots accent on stage and figured his voice could bring verve to some pretty dense material. It did, and suddenly a new career was born.

Over the last 15 years, he has done radio ads, children’s books, www.ncwgoodlife.com

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33

video game voices, three versions of the Bible, heavy nonfiction tomes and multi-cultural voices in a variety of novels.

The Heath’s new house in Leavenworth includes a soundproofed recording studio with a microphone, a converter and a Mac laptop, where he freelances for favorite audio publishers.

David can choose his titles.

“I just can’t do a reading unless I find something to like in the work; fortunately, I can peruse a book and decide if I want to spend 80 to 160 hours on it.”

For audio books with several characters, he says he finds a key phrase that exemplifies the character (like “Yessssss my precisssssious”) and that audioimage helps him lock the voice in to his memory for when he needs it again. He has some favorite readers in the genre, and he still listens and learns.

So far, the recent transition from acting with applause under the lights, to reading for an unseen public has been smooth.

David’s stage presence and character-creating skills — as well as his sonorous voice — have served him well in both professions, even if each one “caught him by surprise.”

>>

WHAT TO DO

We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com

}}} Continued from page 32 pybuspublicmarket.org.

Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra presents The Nutcracker, 12/8, 9, 7 p.m. and 12/10, 2 p.m. Joined with the Fabulous Feet Academy of Ballet live performance. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $18- $37. Info: numericapac.org.

Snowy Owl Family Christmas, 12/8, 7:30 p.m. 12/9, 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. A Bavarian Christmas: Rollicking Christmas music, dances, wacky commercials, and a hilariously touching Christmas story for the whole family. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $12 - $22. Info: icicle.org.

Annual Holiday Art Show, 12/8, 4 – 8 p.m. Four artists selling their wares for one night only. Amber Zimmerman – fused glass ornaments and necklaces, art prints and cards. MP Pottery – functional hand made stoneware, inspired by nature. Siri Jewelry – original de-

signs hand fabricated with recycled precious metals and Whiskey Jack Designs – cards, prints and hand painted cork hats. Gibbs Graphics, 11801 Hwy 2, Leavenworth.

Free Pictures with Santa, 12/10, 16, 17, 23, 1 – 3 p.m. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Slim Chance, 12/15, 6 – 8 p.m. Live music on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Magical Strings Celtic Yuletide, 12/15, 7:30 p.m., 12/16, 1 p.m.

A festive concert of music, dance, storytelling and songs of the season brings warmth and joy into the heart of winter. Snowy Owl Theater.

Cost: $22 advance or $24 at the door, Students $12 and kids under 12 free. Info: icicle.org.

GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL AND GIFT FAIR, 12/16, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Vendors include Tupperware, Obsession Glass, Doterra, H2O @ Home, Stampin Up and others.

Baked goods and homemade crafts are also available. Proceeds help fund the 2018 Youth Mission Trip to Houston. 1408 Washington St.,

34

| The Good Life

Wenatchee.

Annual Christmas Bird Count, 12/16, 4 p.m. Birders will be as-

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December 2017

signed a route and meet their leader at a designated area. Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery.

Info: Gretchen Rohde 393-0088.

Winning photos make a natural calendar T

he winners have been selected and the calendar printed for the natural resources photo contest that combines appreciation for the environment with the artistic talent of local photographers.

The contest is sponsored by The Chelan County Clean Water Campaign, a collaborative effort between local businesses, organizations and citizens interested in improving water quality in Chelan County, and Cascadia Conservation District, a nonregulatory grant-funded organization dedicated to wise stewardship of all natural resources Photo entries were accepted in six categories including plants, wildlife, agriculture, recreation, landscapes, and water.

Two winning photos from each category were cho1st Place – Paddling Out by Brendan Morrison sen for inclusion in the 2018 stewardship calendar.

The natural resource stewardship calendars were scheduled to arrive around Thanksgiving at the Cascadia Conservation District’s office at 14 N Mission St, Wenatchee (upstairs of the Wenatchee World building).

Calendars are free, but limited to two per person.

3rd Place – Honeybee by Karen Eadie

>>

2nd Place – Summit Sunset by Stephen Guyette

WHAT TO DO

We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com

Early morning birding and ID skills building, 12/20, 7:30 – 9:45 a.m. Join Susan Ballinger on this low-key morning birding outing. From beginner to expert, learn from fellow birders and hone your bird ID skills. Walla Walla Park (meet at the north end of the park near the restrooms). Info: susan@ cdlandtrust.org.

Old Time Radio Show: It’s a

Wonderful life, 12/21, 7:30 p.m.

Local performers bring the classic story of It’s A Wonderful Life to the stage in 1940s style radio hour as it is broadcast live on KOHO 101.

Numerica Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $11 - $21. Info: numericapac. org.

Lance Tigner, 12/22, 6 – 8 p.m.

Live holiday music on the railcar.

Pybus Public Market. Cost: free.

Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Cirque Dreams Holidaze, 12/26, 7:30 p.m. Filled with over 300 imaginative costumes, 20 worldclass astonishing acts, the finest December 2017 | The Good Life

singers, original music and seasonal favorites, don’t miss snowmen, penguins, angels, reindeer, toy soldiers, gingerbread men, ornaments and of course Santa. Town Toyota Center. Cost: $35 - $75. Info: towntoyotacenter.com.

Family Fun New Year’s Eve party, 12/31, 6:30 – 9 p.m. Bonfire, smore’s, food special in the Lodge, torchlight parade. Winter wonderland at Echo Valley Ski and Tubing area, Chelan. Cost: $10, 5 and under free. Info: lakechelan.com.

New Years Eve Concert, 12/31, 7 – 9 p.m. (traditional dinner music)

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and 10 – midnight (classic rock and roll). Waterdog performs. Cost: free. Apple Drop at 9 p.m. and midnight. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

>> RANDOM QUOTE

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

Henry Ford

>>

column those were the days

rod molzahn

Blair Family: Enticed by apples and grapes Editor’s note: This story continues a series of bio sketches on prominent early settlers in the valley.

George Blair and Margaret

Davis were married in Nebraska in 1872. By 1881 they had four daughters: Mamie, age 6, Grace, 5, Pearl, 4 and the newborn, Alice. The family also included Margaret’s 15-year-old son, Charles Davis.

That year they left Nebraska heading west on a Northern Pacific train until the tracks ended at Butte, Montana. They stayed two years then packed the family into a stagecoach bound for Deer Lodge where they bought a covered wagon, four horses, supplies and provisions and drove to Missoula, Montana.

There they loaded the wagon on an “immigrant train” flat car that took them to Ainsworth (near present day Pasco), Washington Territory.

There they unloaded the wagon, hitched up the horses and headed for Ellensburg. Disappointed with what they found there they decided to cross the mountains to Seattle.

That’s when George heard stories about the Wenatchee Country, saddled a horse and went to investigate. He returned

with apples and grapes and the news that he had found a homestead there.

The apples and grapes were persuasive and soon the family was on their way over Colockum Pass. Eldest daughter, Mamie, in a 1967 Wenatchee Daily World interview recalled, “It took us five days to make the trip over the mountains… three days to get to the top (where they spent a night in an October snow and sleet storm) and two days to come down.”

On Oct. 18, 1883 when the Blairs got to the section of land that George had located on his first trip to the valley, near the intersection of Castle Rock and Miller streets, they discovered that, in their short absence, a man named John Camphor had a pile of logs there and the beginnings of a cabin.

The Blairs moved on to another 160 acre parcel bordered on the west by Western Avenue, Miller Street on the east end, Fifth Street to the north and Washington Street on the south.

They parked the wagon and set up their tent next to it.

Winter was coming. The wagon and tent would be their home until George and Charlie could cut and haul logs from Squilchuck Canyon to build a

George Blair could neither read nor write when he married Margaret but he was smart, hardworking and not hesitant to let his new wife be his teacher.

16-foot square one-room cabin.

Four feet of snow fell that winter. In the spring George added a second room to the cabin.

Getting water to the land was a priority.

In 1884 George Blair, along with his neighbors, C.C. Rickman, Mr. Hollenbeck and Tallman Tripp, began shoveling out an irrigation ditch from Squilchuck Creek to within a fourth of a mile of Western Avenue. It was named “The Settler’s Ditch” and though it provided ample water in spring and early summer, by late summer and fall Philip Miller’s senior water rights consumed all that was left in the creek.

The problem persisted until the early 1900s when Blair’s

son-in-law, Si France (married to Mamie) and Alec Murray laid pipe from a spring up Number One Canyon that brought water to 82 taps along Fifth Street, Orchard Avenue and Washington Street.

George Blair could neither read nor write when he married Margaret but he was smart, hardworking and not hesitant to let his new wife be his teacher.

By the time they reached the Wenatchee Valley George was a literate man. He had developed a keen interest in education and wanted his daughters to learn.

In 1884 George Blair helped build Wenatchee’s first school, a one-room log building at the northwest corner of Washington and Miller Streets. It was a subscription school. Parents paid a fee that covered the teacher’s salary and school expenses.

A Mrs. Millikan was the first teacher.

A year later a school district was formed and George Blair was named one of the directors.

His stepson, 18-year-old Charlie Davis, was the first teacher of the town’s first public school.

Blair, however, was intent on finding a more experienced teacher. He went to Ellens-

The Valley’s Best Mix of Music + The Latest Local News Music The Whole Family Can Agree On! With the Biggest Hits of the 80’s, 90’s and today KOHO 101.com News you need, voices you trust, and music that keeps you moving 36

| The Good Life

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December 2017

The road down the north side (of Colockum Pass) was so steep the men cut down a sizable tree at the top on each trip to drag behind the coach as a brake. burg, found Charles Cooper and persuaded him to move to Wenatchee.

Cooper taught for several years then moved on to orcharding. In 1892 he married his 14-year-old past student, Pearl Blair. Cooper was a successful fruit grower and the first in the valley to own an automobile.

1885 was a busy year for George Blair. Along with his work on the school he was given the contract to carry mail, on horseback, from Ellensburg to Wenatchee then across the Columbia to Waterville then back across the Columbia to Conconully then south back to Wenatchee.

In a later Wenatchee Daily World interview Blair, who had a wide reputation as a grand storyteller, recalled winters when the big river froze over.

“The Columbia froze over after chunks of ice had broken and jammed. Large chunks of ice were stacked 5 or 6 feet in the air. When I rode across on my way to Waterville I had to pass between canyons of ice. That was a winter.”

In 1886 George Washington Blair and his neighbor, Christopher Columbus Rickman, partnered to establish a stage coach run between Ellensburg and Waterville. The stage made two 150-mile round trips each week, year round, regardless of the weather.

The Colockum Pass trail had been widened in 1884 to accommodate wagons. The summit

of the pass is over 6,000 feet elevation and windstorms and drifted snow are common from September through April. The road down the north side was so steep the men cut down a sizable tree at the top on each trip to drag behind the coach as a brake.

Along with all his other endeavors George Blair found time and energy to develop his ranch.

The Blair family cleared sagebrush and rocks then planted a vegetable garden along with orchards of peaches and apricots.

In 1890, the year they got clear title to their land, the Blairs built a new house that still stands at 300 N. Elliot with a crescent driveway to bring in the stage coach and six horse team.

Blair was a customer at the Miller/Freer store until it closed in 1888. He paid off the last of his bill in May of 1891. Margaret Blair died in November of 1923.

George Washington Blair passed away five years later in February of 1928. He was 78 years old.

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>> RANDOM QUOTE

Sometimes (in life), there aren’t second chances. And if it turns out to be a mistake? So what!

This is life! A whole bunch of mistakes!

But if you never get a second chance at something you didn’t take a first chance at?

That’s true failure.

C. JoyBell C. December 2017 | The Good Life

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Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake. speak@verizon.net. His third history CD, Legends & Legacies Vol. III - Stories of Wenatchee and North Central Washington, is now available at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and at other locations throughout the area.

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37

the back page: that’s life

MIG! B

By Dan Jordan

ack in the 1970s when I was in my late teens and my cousin Sid, back from Vietnam, was in his 20s we carried out a stunt that, were we to have tried it in the present day, might well have gotten us blown to smithereens or thrown into military prison.

Or both.

We were performing the daily chore of changing irrigation lines in the alfalfa fields of Palisades.

An irrigation line, in the days before automated wheel lines, consisted of a number of 40 foot long, aluminum water pipes, each with a tall sprinkler on one end, hooked one to another across an alfalfa field.

That line of sprinklers would be left to run for 24 hours and then would be manually moved 60 feet and left for another 24 hours, etc. Moving that line consisted of a person unhooking each 40-foot pipe, lifting and carrying it 60 feet to where the pipeline was being re-laid for the next 24 hour set.

On this particular day Sid and I were working together, alternately carrying one pipe after another as we moved the line for the next set. Sid had just hooked a pipe to the new line and I was

What are you laughing at?

We’re looking for fresh, true stories from local people that’ll bring a chuckle to our readers.

Limit yourself to 500 to 1,000 words and send to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com Stories published will win a $100 gift certificate to any one of our advertisers.

lugging the next pipe over. Suddenly --- but let us pause in our story for some comments and definitions: n On this particular day Sid was wearing a ball cap. The average ball cap has a hard “button” at the top, or crown, of the hat. I guess it helps hold the hat together. n In the ’70s and ’80s — and probably still today — it wasn’t unusual for a sudden, very loud roar to occasionally fill the Palisades valley.

The military liked to use the valley for under-the-radar flight training. The moment one of those planes appeared over the basalt rimrock of the valley it was like someone had flipped a switch, causing a sudden transition from peaceful quiet to valley-filling roar echoing off the basalt palisades.

Sometimes those jets would fly directly across the valley and disappear beyond the opposite rim; other times they would swerve and come straight down the valley, often quite low. n MIG: in those days of the cold war a MIG was the name by which a Soviet fighter aircraft was known to the US Military.

So, back to the story.

Sid had just hooked a pipe to the new line and I was trudging toward him with the next pipe.

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...a military jet (was) swerving into position to fly directly down the valley.

Suddenly that familiar, startling roar overwhelmed the valley.

We looked up-canyon and spotted a military jet already swerving into position to fly directly down the valley. It was flying lower than I had ever seen before, so low that, once he reached us, the pilot would surely be able to look down and clearly see us.

“MIG!!” Sid shouted at me as the jet approached. “Quick, bring that pipe!”

I was briefly baffled until I saw him go down on one knee facing the approaching jet as he excitedly waved me over.

I grinned as I comprehended his plan and trundled over to him as quickly as I could with the cumbersome 40-foot pipe.

I put the end of the pipe on his right shoulder, with about three feet of it protruding in front of him and I dropped the long, other end of the pipe to the ground. Now it was pointed up at the oncoming, roaring military jet.

With a tall sprinkler incongruously poised on the end of our

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bazooka, we were locked and loaded.

I instinctively knew my job was to be signalman, expected to pat Sid on the head to sigDan Jordan retired nal when he a year ago from Chelan County should pull Courthouse IT the trigger.

Department after The swiftly 25 years, and was approachin the IT industry ing jet was for about 35 years.

He lives with his nearly lined wife, Gail, two dogs up with us and a cat in East and our Wenatchee. bazooka; it was time for me to signal Sid he was “ready to fire!”

In my hurry and excitement I didn’t pat Sid on his imaginary helmet with the flat of my hand; I pounded him twice on the head with the heel of my fist.

Further, I hit him right on that hard button atop his ball cap, nearly driving it through his skull.

Sid grabbed his head, the bazooka misfired as Sid collapsed in pain, and the STINKING MIG GOT AWAY!! as I turned to shake my fist at it.

For those old enough to remember Laurel and Hardy, the irritated look Sid gave me from his prone position on the ground was precisely the one Oliver Hardy would give Stan Laurel just before he would say, “Well, Stanley; this is another fine mess you’ve gotten me into.”

In those days I imagine the pilot, if he saw us, would have been grinning.

In the present day — maybe not.

In any case, we were not visited by official-looking vehicles in the days following.

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