June 2020 The Good Life

BEATING THE BOREDOM OF THE LOCKDOWN

WENATCHEE VALLEY’S

NUMBER ONE MAGAZINE

June 2020

OPEN FOR FUN AND ADVENTURE

FLIPPING over Zambia

Kayaker finds biggest rush on the mighty Zambezi

Price: $3

d a e h t Goa or warri

g troyin s e d d ng anrn plants Seekiu l tho painf

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Contents

SUNNY FM SALUTES THE

CLASS OF 2020

We know Grads are having a tough time right now

page 18

KAYAKING AND camaraderie IN ZAMBIA

Features

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not giving in to the pandemic

Stories of local ingenuity and resilience in battling the boredom of the lockdown

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Their Senior Year has been, to say the least, challenging: Classes on ZOOM, putting up with your parents and siblings, no football games to attend. However, at the same time this current Pandemic has pulled everyone together to help each other.

Although Graduation this year will most likely be on the Virtual side, it doesn’t change what they have all accomplished.

Hats off to all Grads!

One father, one dad, different men

As Father’s Day approaches, Alex Saliby still has questions for the man who fathered — and then ignored — him

14 Goathead warrior

Doug Pauly has turned his hate for painful, thorny goatheads into a passion, a crusade and a great way to get exercise outside

Best of Luck! You’ve got this!

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16 breakdown in the palisades

A dead battery, no cell service, what’s a couple of women to do?

18 thrills of kayaking in zambia

Not just the fun of tumbling down a mighty river, but a chance to experience wonders of the world

20 Yoga in the yukon

Traveling to Canadian north opens the opportunity to practice the Eastern discipline in the wilds of the Yukon

22 taking a chance on south korea

Mari Foreman Groff and her husband decided to take the leap for a trip to South Korea, which turned out to be great timing to attend an island wedding, see Korean mermaids and have a taste of the sea

24 Industrial chic

Home builder got to open his sketch book of ideas on his own creation in Sunnyslope Art sketch n YouTube performer Leyton Pinto, page 30 Columns & Departments 6 A bird in the lens: Soft beauty of the Say’s Phoebe 12 Pet Tales: Fell in love with a foster dog 28 June Darling: Don’t misuse your strengths 29 The traveling doctor: Walking for the health of it 30 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 32 History: When steamboat captains were rock stars 34 That’s life: Then and now June 2020 | The Good Life

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OPENING SHOT

®

Year 14, Number 6 June 2020 The Good Life is published by NCW Good Life, LLC, dba The Good Life 1107 East Denny Way, Apt. B-7 Seattle, WA 98122 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, Jan Theriault, Judy Weaver, Guy Miner, ’Tricia Devereaux, Linda Kelly, Sarah Shaffer, Alex Saliby, Doug Pauly, Niki Panek Annamarie Harden, Tom Potter, Jan Albin-Bullock, Mari Foreman Groff, Travis Knoop, Leyton Pinto, Jim Loudon, Jim Brigleb, Bruce McCammon, Donna Cassidy, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell and Rod Molzahn Advertising: Lianne Taylor Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Dianne Cornell Ad design, Linda Day 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 subscription services 1107 East Denny Way, Apt. B-7 Seattle, WA 98122 For circulation questions, email: donna@ncwgoodlife.com EVENTS: donna@ncwgoodlife.com BUY A COPY of The Good Life at Safeway stores, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and Dan’s Food Market (Leavenworth) ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact Lianne Taylor at (509) 6696556 or lianne@ncwgoodlife.com WRITE FOR THE GOOD LIFE: We welcome articles about people from Chelan and Douglas counties.

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by NCW Good Life, LLC.

Painting continues to fill with life T

By Jan Theriault

erry Johnson has a painting that is always in progress.

He first painted the 11th Anniversary as he sat near the Apple Capital Loop Trail walking bridge at First and Columbia.

It was painted during the annual Plein Air Paint-Out in 2018 sponsored by Two Rivers Art Gallery.

At the time he turned the painting into the gallery for judging, it lacked a few details that have since appeared.

A year later, birds and a lady on a bike showed up.

This year the street became wet and a banner announcing the 11th Anniversary of Two Rivers Art Gallery was added.

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If Terry’s painting doesn’t sell soon, we may find it much different in a few months.

11th Anniversary by Terry Johnson can be seen at the Members Show as soon as the governor allows small businesses to open.

Terry is a potter as well. His pottery is often the unusual, sometimes conservative and at other times native American or even mystical.

You may have seen Terry painting a large sign on the side of a cold storage building or painting as part of a plein air paint-out.

Terry Johnson is truly a unique artist and perhaps could be called Wenatchee’s Picasso.

His work can be seen at Two Rivers Art Gallery in Wenatchee.

Jan Theriault is president and chairman of the Board at Two Rivers Art Gallery.

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June 2020

On the cover Kayaker and traveler Tom Potter stands on the rim of the Zambezi River where he kayaked last year. Victoria Falls is in the background.

About his exuberant hand signals, Tom said they are common in photos and are translated as “Hang Loose.”

“It stems from surfing and generally means, ‘Keep it relaxed’ or ‘Laid back.’ It has carried forward into the generations and is a universal sign of ‘Stoke’ or ‘Preparedness for a daunting task with full confidence,’” said Tom. “In all reality, it is a reflex when someone says, ‘Hey, let me take your photo in this cool place!’ I suppose it is more exciting than just standing there.”

June 2020 | The Good Life

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column a bird in the lens

Listen carefully to soft song of Say’s Phoebe O

By Bruce McCammon

f the birds that visit north central Washington during the spring nesting season and early summer, the Say’s Phoebe is one of my favorites.

This longtailed flycatcher prefers dry, open areas and is found in prairies and ranch land as well as on the edges of urban areas.

Say’s Phoebes eat insects and will Bruce McCammon is retired, colorperch on low blind and enjoys rocks, shrubs photographing the or wires to birds in north cenhunt by flying tral Washington. out to snatch a flying insect. They will also hop down to the ground to pick up food.

Being about 6.5 inches in length, they are smaller than an American Robin.

I think of the Say’s Phoebe as being a subdued bird, overall. Their cinnamon belly, gray breast and dark tail make them a pleasant, but not overly showy color mix.

If you see a Say’s Phoebe, listen for its soft, pleasant song.

I think the Phoebe’s song is one of the most pleasant sounds I know. You can listen to their soft-voiced, pleasant song here: www.audubon.org/field-guide/ bird/says-phoebe.

Sometimes it can be challenging to identify the flycatchers that visit our area. Knowing

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their songs will help you separate one bird from another.

This photo was taken on April 1, 2020 on the Waterville plateau.

I, like everyone else, was trying to maintain social distance during the Covid-19 pandemic.

I can’t think of a better way to be isolated than to be driving the rural roads of north central Washington.

The road between Rock Island Dam and Waterville is a great place to wander while looking for birds.

I was stationed at a bluebird nest box and enjoying watchKnow of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

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June 2020

ing, photographing and filming Mountain Bluebirds as they brought in nest material. I was surprised to see this Say’s Phoebe fly into the area and land on the fence directly in front of my camera.

I took several photos before the bird flew off and I redirected my efforts back to the bluebirds.

I was thrilled to have the Phoebe punctuate my hours of isolation with a brief visit and posing session.

I hope you get the chance to see a Say’s Phoebe. Please, if you do find one, stop and listen for their soft song.

Hopefully you will be able to watch the bird perform its flycatching routine while it sings for you.

Remember your binoculars and camera. Good luck.

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editor’s notes

MIKE CASSIDY

From young to old, we cover them all This is a most unusual issue

of The Good Life.

We have a story about the youngest person we’ve ever featured — Leyton Pinto, who has created a YouTube site to showcase his artistic talents — and the oldest person we’ve ever had — Great-Great Aunt Dorothy, who turns 107 this month.

Leyton’s story came about when we were contacted by his manager and family friend Zoeyanne Durrer (a 12-year-old with a manager first caught our attention), who wrote us: “I am Leyton’s manager from Leyton’s Crazy World on YouTube. He has 250 subscribers and a talented dancer, actor, singer, musician. He creates high quality videos with professional equipment. His channel is growing by the second. We think this would be a good story because it can inspire other kids to do something fun during this quarantine.”

Patricia (‘Tricia) Devereaux sent us the update about her great-great aunt, Dorothy Reed.

‘Tricia wrote a cute feature in June 2013 about her aunt turning 100, still being active, still living in her Wenatchee home.

Great-great aunt Dorothy isn’t taking the second great pandemic she has seen in her life sitting down.

As these two stories show us, whether you are young or older, there is always more to life if you push the boundaries of what is expected.

One person who tried to do a little more but ended up now doing a little less is our longtime writer Susan Lagsdin.

Her husband (and retired veteran reporter) Mike Irwin

was first with the news on April 29: “Susan was in a horse accident this afternoon in the Methow Valley. Injuries include breaks on both legs (four places) a broken scapula and several broken ribs. She was on a trail near Sun Mountain Lodge and had to be airlifted to Wenatchee hospital.”

Later, Mike added: “Susan and friend were riding about 20 minutes from trailhead when they found brush blocking the trail. She and friend dismounted to clear the trail, Susan stepped between the horses and — whammo! — her horse kicked...

Just wrong place at the wrong time.”

As I write this, Susan has had surgeries on a leg and shoulder and is now in a rehab center.

So, for the first time in 10 years or more, there are no Susan Lagsdin bylines in The Good Life.

We miss her and wish her a quick recovery.

Builder John Sirmon talks this month about a house he and his wife created in Sunnyslope.

John started in the building industry with a real estate license, but, he said, “Growing up, my family always had home improvement projects, so it didn’t take long for me to want to do more construction than the marketing/sales. I swapped my briefcase for a tool belt. Creating is the key which transforms work into satisfaction for me.”

Take a look at his “industrial chic” creation on page 22.

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What we are doing to survive the pandemic lockdown

The Silly Dragon Grandmother and granddaughter connect by writing a virtual book

T

By Judy Weaver

hese last few months have been difficult and challenging for all of us — no matter our age, our gender or status. We have all been affected by this pandemic.

We have all dealt with these challenging times in different ways: taking walks (while social distancing), reading more, baking more, “zooming” and FaceTiming with friends and family, etc.

It certainly hasn’t been easy, but hopefully our efforts will result in a positive outcome and that we all have learned something about ourselves in the process.

In keeping with trying to stay connected with family, some weeks ago I had a conversation via FaceTime with some of our family in the Seattle area.

Our 9-year-old granddaughter, Camille, was part of the conversation.

I suggested to Camille that she might like to write us a letter. I indicated that if she wrote me a letter, I would respond.

I was delighted when there was a letter in our mailbox just a few days later. What I expected was a standard elementary school student letter that said: “Hi Nana. How are you? I am fine. I am reading books. I miss my friends. Love, Camille” That is not what I received.

Camille wrote a story titled:

Judy Weaver and her 9-year-old granddaughter Camille stay connected on Zoom.

The Silly Dragon. It was just a delightful story about a dragon named Bob and his pet monkey named Monkey. Bob and Monkey live in a cave with no gravity. They eat spaghetti and float around in their cave.

Needless to say, it was the highlight of my day, receiving this story from our creative granddaughter. I showed it to friends and family (at a distance, of course).

Within a day or two I wrote Camille back, but instead of

writing a standard Nana letter, I wrote a second chapter to The Silly Dragon. In my chapter, Bob and Monkey tie ropes around their tails and attach the ropes to a tree outside their cave so they can float outside.

The letters (with more chapters of The Silly Dragon) have continued.

At the writing of this piece, Camille and I have completed six chapters. Maybe we will have our story published one day.

No matter what, this exchange

of “letters” with my granddaughter has been a gift to me during this anxious time.

I hope it has been fun for Camille as well. It has allowed us to stay connected in a unique and creative way. I highly recommend it to others.

My hope is that each one of us has the opportunity to experience some “highlights” during this difficult time.

May we keep the good news and highlights coming in the weeks and months ahead.

Me, Maverick & a camera: So much to see

By Guy Miner Well, our governor said it was okay to take a walk, or go for a bike ride… So, I threw caution to the wind and decided that a kayak paddle would substitute for riding a bike, though I know our governor dearly loves his bike rides.

So, I’ve been alternating, a day at home doing yard work, then

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a day when I walk several miles with my most awesome dog, Maverick. Maverick insists that we haul a camera along on our walks, and that was a great idea, because we’ve seen some wonderful things on our walks.

Maverick is particularly fond of the Horan Natural Area, though the Dunes and the 19th Street area of the Loop Trail are also good.

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June 2020

He likes places that smell of quail, pheasant and other wild things. He smells ’em, I just walk and look, and work the camera for Mav. Lack of opposing thumbs hampers his efforts with the camera.

At home we built two raised garden beds: eight feet long, three feet wide, and about 16 inches deep. Filled them with rich topsoil and planted quite a

Meditation: Antidote in a pandemic

By Linda Kelly

“I think this is the best osprey photo I’ve ever taken — just a couple of weeks ago, walking along the Loop Trail with my dog, Maverick,” said Guy Miner.

crop — tomatoes, carrots, bell pepper, strawberries and more.

We’re all very much looking forward to the bounty of our garden!

Walking… We’ve watched deer, Millie the Moose and our ospreys returned in the first week of April and have been amazingly active.

The pair of eagles returned to their nest in the Horan Natural Area and seem to be quite busy near that spot. We’ve found quail and pheasant, which greatly pleased Maverick. He apologized for nearly pulling me over in his enthusiasm to close in on those birds. Fortunately I outweigh him by, ahem, never mind, I’m heavier than the dog, let’s leave it at that.

The kayak has only been out a few times. Mav is not yet kayak trained, we’re working on that slowly.

From the kayak I get a different look at the scenery and the wildlife — deer, osprey, eagles,

Guy and Maverick, out for a walk in the park.

even the great blue heron. All are easier to approach.

I learned to beware the current from the Wenatchee River, it’s running strong now. Even paddling out from the swim area at Walla Walla Point Park, into the Columbia, the strong current tugged at the bow of my kayak and threatened to swirl me around.

Spring is a wonderful time here in our area. So many birds have returned to Wenatchee.

I’m getting photos of goldfinch, warblers, red-winged blackbirds, ducks, geese, mergansers and of course the eagles and osprey.

So — I’ve been taking this time to spend more time walking with my dog, and photographing the natural beauty of our area. It’s actually been very good for me.

I miss coffee with my friends.

I miss shopping at Pybus. But, it’s been a good time for me, as I not-so-patiently wait for restrictions to ease.

I write this in the peak of the pandemic and as the world looks for a cure — miracle or scientific — for the physical ravages of COVID-19.

But what about a cure, or at least a prescription, for the mental health effects of this historic health crisis?

I recently enrolled in an online meditation series created by local Leavenworth yoga and meditation instructors Joanna Dunn and Kelli Riddle.

Linda Kelly: I wondered: De-mystifying meditation Being a middle-aged mom and now online schooling coach to my youngest, could I really learn to deepen my inner world and decrease stress during this pandemic through an online meditation class?

While I’ve personally made half-hearted attempts at meditation in the past, I had not given it a serious try and knew more about the image of meditation rather than its real benefits: you know, the stereotype of a guru sitting for hours, seemingly having no chores or Zoom meetings to attend to, and obscured by a fog of burning incense?

For years I had heard about the benefits of meditation, including enhanced focus, decreased anxiety and better sleep.

A pandemic seemed like the perfect time to try something

See next page for more lockdown stories *** June 2020 | The Good Life

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}}} Continued on next page

Joy through meditation }}} Continued from previous page that would help tune out fears and worries and bring more emotional balance and peace to my day.

And, as it turns out, I had a lot of misconceptions about what meditation was and what it took to be successful at it. Going into the class, my trepidation included these thoughts: n Meditation must be done a certain way or it does not “work.” n Any meditation session less than at least a half an hour is not real meditation and has no benefit. n Meditation requires buying into an Eastern religion or deity.

During the class, which was taught over four weeks to a group of about 20 of us via Zoom, I learned how wrong I was and what I had been missing.

The reality is that the physical act of meditation does not need to be fixed, and can be done in the traditional floor seated position but also while simply seated in a chair, or can take place while walking and conducting other routine activities.

What’s most important is your intention, focus and state of mind.

Some very practical benefits of meditation can be achieved in as little as 5-10 minutes per day. In fact, a Yale study cited by Inc. Magazine (2018) found that 10 minutes of meditating before a test boosted cognitive performance of college students.

Meditation is accessible to everyone and does not need to be tied to any religion. It can be a means to connect to your God, if you have one, as well as a way to pray and cultivate your inner life. In fact, meditation is mentioned in the Bible 23 times.

One common meditation is actually called the metta prayer, which is a prayer of protection and peace for ourselves, others and the world — kind of like a

Meditation is accessible to everyone and does not need to be tied to any religion. golden rule prayer.

I learned about many mindtraps and distractions that can keep us from quieting the mind while we try and tune out the world.

Ideally, working your way to a place of mental stillness and openness is the goal but perfection is not the objective. After all, that is one reason why it is called the “practice” of meditation.

And, I learned that everyone struggles with these distractions, yet the benefits of meditation are still accessible to any less-than-perfect meditator like me.

Once I was able to release the self-judgment about how I was “performing,” I was able to truly enjoy the benefits of focusing on my intention of fostering a positive and compassionate mindset.

It is a free gift of self-care you can give to yourself in minutes a day and requires no membership fees, special equipment or apps.

For me, this has personally meant a greater acceptance of — and finding joy in — “what is” rather than lamenting about what “should be.”

For the rest of this pandemic, I’ll now be sending up prayers for our safety, health and peace.

Joanna and Kelli make this positive mental health learning available to all during this global health catastrophe. Visit joannadunn.com for more information.

Linda Kelly is a semi-retired local government manager and lives in Leavenworth. Joanna Dunn lives in Leavenworth and Kelli Riddle lives in Cashmere.

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Dorothy Reed measures material to make protective masks.

Dealing with pandemic No. 2 — 100 years apart M

by ’Tricia Devereaux

y dear 106-year-old (she will be 107 on June 9) GreatGreat Aunt Dorothy lived through the flu epidemic of 1918, and now she is living through the COVID-19 crisis of 2020.

To stay safe from this terrible virus, she has been isolating at home with her son, Jim Reed, keeping her company.

To stay busy and productive during the stay-at-home directive, she was spending her time

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June 2020

making quilt tops for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church until she read the plea in the Wenatchee World for people to make facemasks and gowns.

Always one to help when there’s a need, she put her quilting projects aside, and using her old Singer sewing machine, she started making face masks.

Aunt Dorothy’s positive cando attitude would do Rosie the Riveter proud, and it does us proud too.

She’s our inspiration!

What we are doing to survive the pandemic lockdown

A mother’s tale during Covid-19

by Sarah Shaffer How do we keep our heads balanced, keep optimism and strength, when nothing seems balanced anymore?

This is my tale as a mother, as a lover of the wild and free outdoors, as a wife, as a human, as a woman. This is my way of finding steady footing during a time of worldly chaos.

Most during this time I think of my relationship with my only child, my daughter, who is 6.

She is bright, kind and joyous.

I think of how she shouldn’t have to experience such a scary and poignant time in our lives, in everyone in the entire world’s lives.

How do I balance the task of explaining to her why she can’t go to school, why she can’t play with friends, without scaring her about the big bad things in the world?

Sometimes, I hold and hug her and kiss her, and other times after a long day of homeschooling by day and working by night, I just want to cry from feeling burnt out, exhausted and the longing for a date with my husband, even if it’s just in the backyard.

How do we, as parents, come up for air during this time?

I have decided we don’t come up for air. We cope, and we all have our own methods for coping.

I have gratitude, as I know my life is relatively easy. I have my body, which is still in relatively good shape, am healthy and eager for exercise. I have nature.

For the first couple of weeks, I tried running and using my mountain bike to grind up a

How do we, as parents, come up for air during this time? steep paved road near my home.

Then on week two I realized my back couldn’t handle the running anymore, an ongoing issue for me for years.

So I formed a new exercise goal: Power walking 40-plus miles per week with my dog while my daughter rode her bike.

Our 11-year-old dog did surprisingly well, with her arthritis subsiding from all the activity. I guess we were under-exercising her for the last six years of her life since the kiddo came along.

After three weeks of getting between 40-44 miles per week, my child lost interest in biking around the neighborhood, or biking much at all really. Now I have to bribe her with a popsicle.

I bought some stretchy bands and looked up various garage workouts to do with them. Too often, I mess with the bands and try not to have them hit me in the face.

The garage workouts get a bit boring, but I am trying new activities, participating in some workouts using video and having my daughter keep track of what I have left to do while she rolls around on the skateboard or makes obstacle courses around me.

The biggest jolt of energy and feeling the most grounded is when I ride my mountain bike up steep hills and mountains.

The pain I feel in my lungs, in my legs, and the burning sensaJune 2020 | The Good Life

Sarah rests at the turn-around point for her weekly 1,500-foot bike climb to get her sweat in.

tion in my face is heaven.

I do the same ride every week, only I want to do it faster.

Sometimes, I lay on the ground at my topping-out spot for a minute or two and just take in the utter fatigue because that makes me realize I am well at this moment. It is what keeps me balanced.

I think this is what you can consider type 2 fun. Not at all fun while it is happening but totally awesome afterwards.

In my neighborhood, I find great joy exploring the little things with my daughter, seeing the Balsamroot flowers in bloom, finding rolly pollys, digging in the dirt and planting veggie seedlings, listening to the birds, the meadowlark, the robin, the sage grouse along with the quail.

Most exciting is listening to the Pacific tree frogs (a.k.a. the chorus frog) that have a beautiful call that is also super powerful outside our back door. They stop and start their call almost www.ncwgoodlife.com

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in complete unison. With all the windows closed you can still hear them clearly. It feels like a special gift to listen to them on a nightly basis.

Although I cannot make things better in the world for my child, I am working at keeping myself somewhat whole during this devastating time for our collective world.

For me, having activities that bring me joy or give me clarity makes me a better mother.

I hope someday my child doesn’t remember this time as scary and unknown, but as time she got to spend with her parents. I am hopeful that I can remember it that way too.

I want to give a big thank you to all the physicians, EMTs, grocery workers, package delivery drivers, scientists, lab workers and many, many more who are risking their health for us. You are very appreciated.

Sarah Shaffer is the Executive Director of WenatcheeOutdoors.

PET tales

Tells us a story about your pet. Submit pet & owner pictures to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

V

ikki Schmidt was enjoying the dog park in Wenatchee with her dog, Tigger Tiger, and her daughter’s dog, Aphrodite.

Aphrodite is a six-month-old Shepherd mix and Tigger Tiger, 8, is a Terrier mix.

“I fostered dogs for many years and told myself if I ever kept one that would be it. I call Tigger Tiger my foster failure because once I got her I fell in love and kept her. She was just a small puppy,” said Vikki.

Vikki also said that fostering is very hard because “you fall in love with just about everyone of them.”

June is Adopt-A-Cat Month

B

renda Byrd just popped out of her car with her dog Libby, a six-year-old Chihuahua rescue dog, along with Joseph Overbee and his dog Blaze. Blaze is a 2-year-old Australian Shepherd mix rescue dog.

Joseph said that Blaze is a lover, loves to play and is a fast runner.

“When I come home from work, Blaze jumps up and licks my ear.”

Joseph also said he loves Blaze’s yellow eyes.

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June 2020

One father, one dad, different men The questions raised by a DNA test still linger on this Father’s Day

By Alex Saliby

My dad was Alexander

Saliby, Jr. His name is on my birth certificate. I was his son.

At his funeral, the honor guard gave me the American Flag, which had been on his coffin. We lived in the same home until the divorce. I was 9 when they divorced; I was 48 at dad’s funeral.

We remained in contact throughout the years of his life.

Alexander Saliby is and was my dad.

My father was Luigi Joseph Resciniti who lived in Binghamton, NY, the town where I was born.

Some of you may recall from my The Good Life story in the November issue of 2016, that my DNA test came back with shocking news — my dad was not my father.

Rather, my father was a man who worked at the family cleaners next door to the laundry where my mother worked when they were both late teens to early 20s — a fact that nobody breathed a word to me previously.

While I was unaware of his existence way back then, he, on the other hand, knew I was there.

That last sentence is the thought that bothered me most of all when I learned through Ancestry.com he was my biological father.

Up front, I confess, I was angry and a little confused. I had dozens of questions to ask him.

The most troubling question was why? Why, if he knew about me, did he not come to see me?

Funny, how time brings a new dimension to issues of the past.

I have a different feeling toward the man now. I’ve learned some things about him from several of my newly found cousins and my sister Violet.

What’s that poem by Alexander Pope?

A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.

When all I had was the knowledge that Luigi J. Resciniti was my biological father, I had in fact only a little learning.

The more I drank at that Pierian Spring and dug into learning more and more about the man, the better I felt knowing the truth about my genetic background, and the more respect and admiration I had for the man who fathered me.

Some time ago, pondering the question: He knew where I was, and he knew I was his son; why didn’t he come to visit me? I felt some strange comfort in pondering the reason why and out of nowhere in the dark recesses of my small brain, I felt I knew why he didn’t visit.

The mother of his son was married to another man, and as far as he knew and could tell, she was happy in that relationship. His visits would have amounted to a major disruption in her life.

To the outside world — and he was an outsider — we were a growing and content family. By 1942, the year my father joined June 2020 | The Good Life

Above, a picture of Alex’s mom and dad taken in August of 1943, just before he shipped out to the war in the Pacific.

At right, Alex’s biological father.

the Army, my Saliby family grew to four, two sons and two parents. When the war ended in 1945, and my father returned from Europe, we became a family of five, three sons and two parents.

And for all intents and purposes, we were a happy family.

Coming to grips with that idea had an enormous affect on my outlook, on my opinion on my feelings for the man who fathered me.

How could I not fully respect the kindness of his behavior?

I mean, to me, only some bobble-headed jerk showing off his muscles and his masculinity would have acted without care and consideration for the woman with whom he had fathered a child.

He wasn’t ignoring me — he was protecting me and my mother in our family relationship.

My father, though, kept track of me. He knew I had been moved to New Jersey after mom and dad divorced.

Why didn’t he come to visit me in New Jersey?

That one’s easy for me to answer. My father married in www.ncwgoodlife.com

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1947 and had the responsibilities of the family and his business ventures, not to mention helping his widowed mother at the business.

I still have a great many questions I’d like to ask him. They will all remain unanswered. My father died in 1968 at the young age of 51.

However, I respect and admire that he built his own family and prospered as a small-business man, a husband, a father, and an uncle to a great many cousins, and sibling to his brothers and sisters.

In any event, it’s Father’s Day month, and I simply wish to hug both my Dad Alexander, and my Father Luigi and wish them both a very happy Father’s Day, and to thank them both for the who and the what I am.

While I am a Resciniti genetically, I am a Saliby by up-bringing and family environment.

Love to both of you, your son Alexander.

Alex Saliby retired from writing about wine in 2018 and now, simply enjoys the pleasures of retirement and responding to “Honey Do’s,” of course.

Puncturevines produce these painful thorns.

Doug Pauly goes into action, seeking and destroying the painful weed. Photos of Doug by Niki Panek

Goathead Warrior Ridding the Valley of those thorns that puncture bike tires and wound dog paws

A

By Doug Pauly

tall, white-haired guy in a camo hat walking down the street with a shovel, leather gloves and a black garbage bag makes people nervous.

Except my wife. For 30 years Katie has tolerated her husband’s quirky passion as a Goathead Warrior.

Smart husbands go hunting or fishing and bring home food for the table. Bring home 20 pounds of goatheads in a garbage bag?

The plants are neither edible nor impressive as a mounted trophy above a fireplace.

I’ve been hunting and killing goatheads (a.k.a. puncturevine) for three decades. With three kids who grew up riding bikes, clearing the goatheads in our neighborhood took less time

than constantly fixing flat tires.

It is easy to hate goatheads.

The razor thorns puncture bicycle tires and by easily sticking to shoe bottoms, car tires and animal paws, can quickly spread to other properties in a neighborhood. The rapidly growing vines climb onto sidewalks and through fences onto adjacent property.

Scouting for goatheads is fun and challenging.

Walking in the still of the morning, I scan the tangle of weeds adjacent to the street or riverfront trail for a goathead’s tell-tale vine pattern, its unique serrated leaf, the sharp spined thorn or its easiest giveaway, bright yellow five petal flowers.

A flashing shovel blade slices the tap root, killing the plant instantly. A rapid, staccato like

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motion can kill 40-plus small plants per minute. Large plants, which grow over 16 feet in diameter, require strategically aiming the blade to sever the tap root without cutting attached vines or dislodging thorns. Each thorn has seeds inside that can lay viable in the ground for 5-plus years.

When my blade contacts the tap root, there is a quiet pop when it slices. Next is carefully lifting the severed plant into an open garbage bag. Heavy leather gloves protect my hands. Any thorn-to-skin contact delivers an instant and painful reminder not to do it again.

In contrast to analyzing complex fruit industry issues, plans and problems, the simplicity of this “seek and destroy” mission is refreshing. It touches a primal

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June 2020

instinct in me. Think Rambo carrying a shovel.

The walking and upper body shovel exercise is healthy for anyone who works at a desk.

Perhaps most importantly, after a few hours of clearing a neighborhood or section of the Loop Trail, I can watch young people and families bicycle past knowing they are far less likely to get a flat tire. The same with dogs who walk by without limping from a goathead thorn. It is a deeply rewarding feeling.

Reducing goathead infestation levels makes a neighborhood a nicer place to live, ride a bike or walk a dog. Eliminating them “moves the needle” on the quality of life for every neighbor.

I started scouting just in our neighborhood. When the Loop Trail was built in 1993, goathead

plants began growing onto the path and causing flat tires. As someone who loves to bicycle, the riverfront trail was added to my Sunday morning target list.

After the five-mile Rocky Reach Trail (RRT) was built in 2015, heavy infestations began emerging adjacent to the beautiful new trail. I helped Bob Parlette for 15 years to get the RRT built. Losing it to goatheads would have been tragic.

In response, we quietly launched the Goathead Warriors initiative in 2016. The vision was a volunteer effort to reduce and eventually eliminate goatheads on all 20 miles of the riverfront trail system. Our core strategy: a team of volunteer warriors willing to scout and clear each section of trail every three weeks.

WenatcheeOutdoors.org executive director Sarah Shaffer helped organize the initiative.

Mike Sorrensen, Hugh and TJ Owen, Charlie Hickenbottom, Michael Fadich, Dave and Cheri Allen, Steve Morris and Javier Sanchez were among the first Warriors to volunteer.

We began communicating and coordinating with local government agencies who maintain different sections of the trail.

Maintenance teams from Eastmont Parks, City of Wenatchee, Chelan County PUD, Washington State Parks and the Washington State Department of Transportation all stepped up their control programs.

With a “step-by-step� team effort, riverfront trail infestation levels were reduced significantly by the end of the first summer.

The same with flat tires and limping dogs.

In 2017 Goathead Warriors expanded to fight goatheads in the cities of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. With a complex web of streets, sidewalks, alleys, public and private land, these were bigger, tougher targets.

Neighborhoods near schools were assigned a high priority.

With over 10,000 students in the community, our long-term goal is that any student can ride a

A goathead plant can be identified by its tell-tale vine pattern, its unique serrated leaf, the sharp spined thorn or its easiest giveaway, bright yellow five petal flowers.

bike to and from school without getting a flat tire.

Lower income neighborhoods in South Wenatchee are also a high-priority target. With much higher infestation levels, kids riding bikes in these neighborhoods too often get flat tires. If we can reduce and eventually eliminate goatheads here, we can beat them anywhere.

Wenatchee added an alley herbicide program in 2017, built a GIS digital goathead map to pinpoint infestations in 2018 and passed a first-in-the-state goathead ordinance in 2019.

These programs have all been a huge help.

Goatheads are a problem throughout Eastern Washington and the Western U.S. To our knowledge, Goathead Warriors is the most proactive, coordinated goathead eradication initiative in the country. No other community is even close.

GW has an arsenal of shovels, thick leather gloves, three mil plastic garbage bags and thousands of educational brochures.

Every volunteer Warrior is issued a shovel/gloves/bags and after 10 hours, earns a Goathead Warrior camo hat.

If you enjoy being outdoors, good exercise and making a positive difference, Goathead Warriors needs volunteers to help scout neighborhoods, the riverfront trail or just your own property. It is also a fun team building activity for a company, church group or Scout Troop.

For me it is a fun, challenging and deeply rewarding experience.

Learn more or contact us at: Goatheadwarriors@gmail. com or via the website: www. goatheadwarriors.com. GW is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Doug Pauly lives in Wenatchee. As a volunteer, he is the founder and coordinator of Goathead Warriors, a locally based 501c(3) nonprofit. Professionally, he serves on the leadership team at Northern Fruit.

A bag of his kill in hand, Doug walks the riverfront trail in search of more targets for his flashing shovel.

June 2020 | The Good Life

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15

Breakdown in the Palisades Where to turn when a fun adventure gets stalled in a cell phone dead zone

I

By Annamarie Harden

n mid-April, my sister and I decided to go for a drive out to the Palisades up to Douglas Creek.

We loaded up the truck, dog, and all, and headed out of town.

Turning off the main road to the Palisades, we made our way from the paved road onto the gravel, dirt route up into the mountains.

As we drove higher, the truck flexed up the winding road. After several miles, we reached the end of the traversable terrain.

We parked the old ’95 Toyota pickup on a bluff that overlooked the water carving out a path down below in the deep canyon.

Filling our lungs with fresh air, we hiked around the terrain above the water that was cascading down the smooth rocks in the canyon.

As we meandered down the road, taking in the sights, a slithering friend was stretched across the road, sunning himself. I screamed with fright and pulled my dog back on his leash.

The snake slithered off the road into the long, green grass.

We continued to walk down the road and admired the scenery. After some time, we decided it was best that we turn around for the day and headed back to the truck.

We hiked back up to where my Toyota pickup was resting on the dusty dirt road. After stomping the dirt from our shoes, we got ourselves situated in the truck. I put my key into the ignition, pressed the clutch, and turned the key. There was no reaction from the engine.

Thinking that I had overlooked something in the process, I turned the key again.

To my dismay, there was no

Annamarie Harden, her dog and the reluctant Toyota pickup.

response from the engine. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” I said, speaking quickly to my sister, feeling flustered.

Popping the hood, I propped it open. I stood there looking into the engine area with a bewildered expression on my face. I knew something was wrong, but I did not know how to adequately diagnose the problem.

I walked around the side of my truck, back to the cab, and tried to start my truck once again. No luck. I did not know what else to do except ask someone else for help. However, my sister and I both realized we had no cell service.

Up over the hill, we noticed a white pickup truck sitting on the road with a man sitting inside. My sister suggested we ask him for assistance. I agreed that this was a good idea even

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Thinking that I had overlooked something in the process, I turned the key again. To my dismay, there was no response from the engine. though my ego was slightly bruised.

Sheepishly, I walked towards the truck and with slight embarrassment inquired, “Can I ask you a question?” As the young man stirred in the cab of the truck, I asked, “Do you have a pair of jumper cables?”

He stepped out of the truck and climbed up into the bed. He

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June 2020

dug into the toolbox in the bed of his truck. No jumper cables were to be found, unfortunately.

This man, whom we will call Justin, volunteered to come take a look at my truck. Grateful to get a man’s assistance and extra mechanical knowledge, we all walked down to where my truck was parked.

Justin looked under the hood and realized my battery terminals were severely corroded.

Using a penny and some water, Justin was able to remove some of the corrosion. We tried to start my truck a couple more times to no avail.

Justin volunteered to give us a ride down the mountain to see if we could find anyone else that might have jumper cables or get us back to cell service where we could call someone else for assistance.

The three of us, and my dog, climbed into Justin’s truck and headed out of the mountains.

After a couple miles, we came across a lifted Ford F350 followed by two Jeeps with lift kits and beefy tires. Justin rolled down his window as we rolled up next to the Ford truck.

He asked the driver, “Do you by chance have a set of jumper cables?” With a smile, the driver responded, “I don’t. But one of those jeeps behind me should definitely have a pair.”

“Ok great, well do you mind helping out? There is a stuck Toyota up there a couple miles,” Justin stated. “Not a problem!

We will go find it” the driver responded with enthusiasm.

The Ford zoomed off with the Jeeps following quickly behind. Justin turned his truck around. He made his way back to where my truck was located.

We rounded the corner at the top where my truck waited. The Ford and two Jeeps had surrounded my truck.

The big Ford had pulled right up to the front of my truck.

Its hood was popped. Ten to 12 people were milling around waiting for me to come open the hood of my own truck. I walked over. I opened my truck hood.

The men pulled out the jumper cables. Once the cables were connected to the running Ford, one of the men accidentally let the two clamps touch one another. They zapped and startled him.

After the initial startle, he connected the clamps to my battery. >> RANDOM QUOTE

Bewildered, bewildered, you have no complaint.

You are what you are, and you ain’t what you ain’t.

John Prine

I jumped in the cab and turned the key in the ignition.

It started right up. I thanked them profusely for the help that was given. The truck and Jeeps packed up, heading off for a journey into the mountains.

Continuing to let my truck idle, I thanked Justin once again. We then headed back to Wenatchee.

What could have been a complete disaster turned into an adventure with a happy ending.

We were able to receive help from complete strangers that showed us kindness still exists in our world.

I am grateful for the help we received. It makes me less apprehensive to take a drive in the hills, but not without first getting myself a nice pair of 20-foot two gauge jumper cables to equip my truck for the next adventure.

Annamarie Harden is a local Wenatchee Valley resident. She enjoys being active in the outdoors and exploring the many treasures this valley has to offer.

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17

Flipping over Zambia

Getting vertical in a rapid on the Zambezi River: “The eddy lines are powerful and you never really know exactly how your lines will work out!” said Tom Potter.

Kayaking in a boiling river, just downstream from one of the 7 wonders of the world

Z

by Tom Potter

ambia is home to an experience on every whitewater kayaker’s dream list: the Zambezi River.

As a natural border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Zambezi is one of the largest drainages in Africa and flows at an average of 125,000 cubic feet per second.

To put that volume in perspective, envision a basketball as one cubic foot. Now picture 125,000 basketballs sweeping through a given point on the river every second.

The river is also prized by kayakers for its warm water, beautiful setting, plethora of accommodation options, organized shuttle services and an abundance of extracurricular activities.

Travel Coming from the eastern Cascades of Washington State, getting to Zambia is no simple task.

This is especially true when you’re flying with a kayak and two weeks of paddling gear.

In our case, I and my friends Jacob Peterson and Steve Bailey flew with Emirates out of Seattle. We chose Emirates because the airline counted a kayak as one of your two allotted checked bags if it was smaller than 300 cm in volume.

The flight experience was a breeze, even though it took 45 hours to get from Seattle to Livingstone, Zambia.

Our flight path took us directly over the North Pole and then south over Iceland and Europe to Dubai.

After a relatively short layover, we boarded another Emirates Boeing 777 and continued to Johannesburg, South Africa.

We enjoyed our first meal in Africa before eventually boarding our final flight to Livingstone with South African Air. Upon landing in Livingstone, we got off the plane onto the tarmac, walked into the tiny airport and swept through customs with our temporary visas in 10 minutes.

As we rounded the corner to baggage claim, we were ecstatic to see three whitewater boats sitting in the oversized baggage

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Tom poses with Manyando, his porter for the trip.

area. We had made it.

The River Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world, is about 100 meters upstream from the Boiling Pot, the popular put-in on the Zambian side of the river.

We could see the mist and hear the roar of the falls as we made our way down to the

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June 2020

water.

The river sits about 200 meters down in the canyon, a serious hike with a kayak.

The Pot is actually a large, circular pool, with the first rapid of the canyon directly upstream.

The rapids of the commercial section of the Zambezi River do have proper names but are more popularly known by numbers.

From the base of Victoria Falls, there are 26 significant rapids spread out over roughly 25 miles of river.

The night of our arrival, we had met a crew of paddlers from New Zealand who had already been down the Zambezi a couple times and had a pretty good idea of the lines. They invited us to hop on their trip, and we had some new friends for our first descent.

As we arrived at the Victoria Falls Park, we were greeted by a crew of Africans who approached us and introduced themselves. Their job was to carry our kayaks down to the river for us.

My porters name was Manyando, and he worked as my porter the whole trip. He was a great guy.

As we walked down the seemingly endless trail to the river, my gratitude for my porter grew immensely, as did the butterflies in my stomach.

Anytime I paddle a new river, especially big water rivers, there are always some nerves flying around inside me.

Eventually we got to the river, soaked up the scenery for a minute, climbed into our kayaks, and started downstream with our New Zealand friends.

The whitewater of the Zambezi can be described this way: There is a ton of water doing a ton of things.

Powerful eddies and whirlpool eddy lines are consistent throughout the whole river.

All of the rapids are large and have unique characteristics.

Most of the rapids have so much going on that you just have to paddle hard into them, react accordingly, and if you find yourself upside down, roll up when you get a chance.

On our first run, I “Hail Mary’d” a lot of rapids.

The Lifestyle We quickly realized that we were immersed in a fun-loving community when we walked into Jolly Boy’s Backpackers

The White Rhino of Zambia are protected in a free range wildlife preserve by armed guards.

Hostel when we arrived in Livingstone.

This place had kayak racks in the parking lot, a swimming pool, a full bar and plenty of interesting people.

Within the first hour of being there, we were poolside with a bucket of Mosi’s, Zambia’s staple light beer.

A couple hours after our arrival, the paddlers started filing in after their day on the river.

Turns out, if you are a kayaker, Jolly Boy’s is the place to stay. At one point during our trip, there were 26 whitewater kayakers representing 12 countries.

Given that all these people were on a kayaking vacation, it was routine for everyone to get back to the hostel after a trip down the Zambezi and spend the rest of the evening telling stories of the day’s endeavors over several buckets of Mosi.

There are many hostels in Livingstone and they all have their own characteristics. They also all have their own events throughout the week.

Victoria Falls Backpackers Hostel had karaoke on Thursday nights. College-age travelers who were simply checking off some bucket list travel usually occupied this place.

Jolly Boy’s hosted a BBQ night every Tuesday that usually turned into a big pool party.

June 2020 | The Good Life

Fawlty Towers Hostel was usually occupied by young professionals who may or may not paddle, and it was great place to seek out other paddlers who (probably) don’t have massive hangovers.

Then there was Limpos Barber Shop. Limpos was the Wednesday night spot and the happening nightspot. It was basically a hip-hop dance club with a sports bar in one corner and an outside BBQ pit.

Across the parking lot was an African-owned Mexican restaurant that featured live Mexican music performed by talented African musicians.

Safari I had no idea when I would travel to Africa again, so we stayed busy checking off as many activities as possible.

One of the most interesting, of course, was the African wild game safari.

A safari is simply an overland journey, typically done in a 4×4 vehicle, with the goal of seeing local wildlife.

Between the two safaris, we spent more than 15 hours in open-sided Toyota Landcruisers, crossed national boarders into Botswana, slept in tents in the middle of Chobe National Park, and saw almost every exotic African animal you can imagine. www.ncwgoodlife.com

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It was a pretty incredible experience being so close to creatures that I’ve only seen on the Discovery Channel and Planet Earth.

We witnessed lionesses feasting on baby elephant carcasses, giraffes nibbling away at Acacia trees, dazzles of zebra, elephants crossing bodies of water using their trunks as snorkels, and of course, more impalas than you could ever count.

There is actually an acronym that is thrown around in the safari world, JAFI, or Just Another F*%#ing Impala.

During my time in Zambia, I spent a total of six days kayaking the Zambezi, three days on safari, and a couple days resting and soaking up the Zambian culture.

My skills and comfort level in high volume whitewater increased immensely through paddling the same 20-mile section of river and exploring my creativity with different lines.

Even though I was feeling confident with my abilities to paddle every rapid with a clean line, I never had a day of paddling without flipping at least once.

In fact, on our third day, I flipped at least 30 times between rapids 1 and 13.

After the trip, I sat in the eddy at the take out waiting for my turn to climb out of the river, exhausted from the beating, I mumbled to myself, “Damn, I paddled like crap today.”

An Austrian paddler named Simon quickly responded with, “T-Pot! Even though you paddled like crap today, you still kayaked the Zambezi River!”

I guess I really had nothing to be upset about. The Zambezi is the most fun river I have ever kayaked.

A version of this story appears on Wenatcheeoutdoors.org — the site covers such topics as hiking, biking, climbing, paddling, trail running and skiing in the region.

Tom Potter was featured in the March 2020 issue for his dedication to outdoor sports.

Yoga in the Yukon Jan Albin-Bullock goes through her practice amid the wonders of a nearly people-free scenery of Hart River in the Yukon Territory of Canada.

T

By Jan Albin-Bullock

he sun is well above the horizon and because it is July in the north, I know that it will light the sky until midnight.

I find a flat place on the pebble beach, careful to avoid the small purple flowers. I lay down my mat and then lay flat on my back.

After several adjustments, moving pokey rocks, changing the angle of the mat to maximize the flat space, I begin my practice.

I breathe. Movement; water, wind, breath. I move through my imperfect practice. Muscles sore from paddling lengthen and open. Spine becomes aligned.

The shadows are my mirror and the water is my meditation. My practice is here in this remote land.

While I love a good yoga studio with smooth floors, I

have found that the earth is not flat and the temperature is not controlled. This practice on the river requires me to deal with the elements first hand.

Adjusting to the earth as it presents itself brings a different dimension to the poses I have practiced for years. There is new understanding as I deal with bugs, sun, wind and rain.

Small obstacles allow for adaptations and make flexibility a necessary component.

A headstand in rubberboots and raingear makes me smile.

Sharing my mat with small spiders and sand allows me to move through the irritations and into my breath.

My husband and I have traveled to the Yukon Territory to explore the rivers for over 15 years. Our travels have led us to the remote rivers of the Peel Watershed in the Yukon Territory.

This year, we will float the

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Adjusting to the earth as it presents itself brings a different dimension to the poses I have practiced for years.

There is new understanding as I deal with bugs, sun, wind and rain.

Hart River. To get there, we arrive in Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory. We finalize our supplies and trip plans, then drive about four hours to the float planes in Mayo, Yukon.

From here we load a float plane, get dropped off at Elliot Lake where we rig our boats and our trip begins.

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June 2020

We travel from the lake, down the twisty, small Elliot Creek and then finally arrive at the confluence of the Hart River.

This land is vast. The human population becomes smaller as we travel to the river and the space becomes filled with rocks, water, trees and wildlife.

The weather will be warm, sunny, windy, rainy, cold, sometimes all in the same day.

We will be on this river for 20 days. We leapfrog with one other group of canoeists and from the reports, our group is one of four that will run this river this season.

Our lives become simple; wake, eat, load the gear, push off, paddle the river, find a perfect campsite (protected from the wind, flat tent sites, plentiful firewood.) We set up camp, make a good fire, eat, practice (daily yoga), tell stories, read and sleep.

Our lives become simple; wake, eat, load the gear, push off, paddle the river, find a perfect campsite (protected from the wind, flat tent sites, plentiful firewood.)

While the routine is the same, each day on the river delivers a new experience; fast moving water, upstream wind, rapids, possible portages, easy floating, strenuous paddling.

Part of the routine each day is to shake our heads in wonder of this land.

Honestly, the mosquitoes are at times horrible, but 90 percent of the time, we are free from the tiny beasts.

There is light, all day in this land of the midnight sun.

I celebrate the sand on my skin and the rocks beneath me the same as I celebrate the colors in the sky and the movement of the water.

It’s here in the Yukon, that I can travel across the wild land and rivers and put to work my practice, allowing for heart, mind and breath to come together.

Jan Albin-Bullock has lived and worked in Wenatchee for most of her life. She works at WestSide High School and is thankful to spend as much time as possible hiking, skiing, paddling and biking in our amazing area.

>> RANDOM QUOTE

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Confucius

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21

South Korea?

Let’s do it Great timing for an island wedding, Korean mermaids and a taste of the sea

L

By Mari Foreman Groff

ast September, my husband Alan and I traveled to our Best Man’s wedding in South Korea.

It was a big deal to us at the time, but now, with COVID-19 “stay home, stay healthy” mindset, it seems downright extravagant.

Prior to receiving our friend’s wedding invitation, we had never heard of Jeju — a semitropical, volcanic island, about 700 square miles, located below the southern tip of South Korea, in between China and Japan.

I googled it: Jeju, known as “honeymoon island,” great beaches, volcanic landscape, verdant hiking, exports tangerines and green tea, home to what may be the last generation of Haenyeo, Korean mermaids.

We splurged and booked the trip.

The wedding was a beautiful, multinational affair; never had we been to an event where so many different languages were spoken.

At the wedding luncheon, we sat next to a Korean American who had not been back to Korea since leaving as a young child.

Over the next several days we would meet others with similar stories.

During the Korean War, Koreans who could fled the violence and poverty engulfing the Korean peninsula, and raised their children in various far-flung countries (our friend grew up in Brazil, and then the U.S., his wife in Singapore, then England). Now, some of these adult children and grandchildren are

returning to visit, even live, in prospering South Korea.

The luncheon boasted an amazing buffet of more than 40 different Korean style dishes — ranging from abalone, octopus, and sea cucumber, to spicy black pork, an island specialty, to strange vegetables (lotus root?)

I’d never seen before.

And, of course, kimchi. (Koreans really do serve kimchi with every meal. We’ve become huge fans of the spicy fermented stuff).

When our new friend tasted the abalone she smiled, explaining “I haven’t had this for so many years. It brings back memories.”

She encouraged us to try it.

“It tastes like... the sea.” I tried many new foods that day, but passed on the strange looking abalone.

The next day, we hired a local guide named Suzie to show us around Jeju Island. We hiked volcano craters, visited Jeju City, and ate lunch at a local favorite spot: tofu soup, steamed tofu, fried tofu, tofu pancakes, tofu wrapped in soybean leaves. It was good.

But the highlight was a close encounter with the Haenyeo, female divers, also known as Korean mermaids.

After hiking up the seaside Seongsan Ilchulbong volcano crater, we descended to the beach below where the Haenyeo were at work. Their orange, pumpkin shaped buoys bobbed out in the cove, serving the dual purpose of marking their presence and holding up fishing nets.

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Korean mermaid fresh from the sea pricing her wares.

The female divers we met that day ranged from age 50 to 81 years old. Haenyeo do not use breathing equipment; they just hold their breath, for two minutes at a time, and dive down, 30 to 60 feet, where they pry their catch off the ocean floor. They wore black wetsuits (Korea Strait is cold!), snorkel masks and a weight belt.

After their nets were full of little octopus, seaweed, conch

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June 2020

and the celebrated abalone, the mermaids swam in, unloading at a seaside table. They hacked shells and sliced seafood. We watched eager purchasers pay $50 for a plate of raw seafood, then eat it up right there on the beach.

That might sound like a lot, but these women do not make much. They swim up to six hours a day and spend the afternoon shelling their catch,

Yet, consistently from the 17th Century to today, Haenyeo (female divers) have provided food and income to their families. Some call them the original working mothers.

The view from the ascent up Seongsan Ilchulbong, a tuff cone formed about 5,000 years ago. It’s famous for its beautiful bowl shaped crater resembling a castle.

The freshest conch, octopus, and abalone, rinsed and ready to eat.

Alan looks over lunch at the local guide’s favorite farm-to-table tofu house: tofu soup, tofu pancakes, steamed tofu, soybean leaves and kimchi.

June 2020 | The Good Life

the best earning up to $25,000 a year.

And it’s dangerous work.

There are sharks, rip tides, boats and bad weather with which to contend. Every year a few Haenyeo are lost to accidents or, more commonly, heart attacks.

We learned that diving for food has been a part of Korean history for a thousand years. But at some point in the 1600s, diving went from being a man’s job to being dominated by females.

Why? The answer is not certain, but war probably had a lot to do www.ncwgoodlife.com

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with it — as in, mandatory male army conscription.

Korea’s 4,000 year long history is a turbulent one; the peninsula has been invaded many times by various countries including China, Mongolia, Japan, and the U.S (1871).

Yet, consistently from the 17th Century to today, Haenyeo have provided food and income to their families. Some call them the original working mothers.

But the numbers of Korean mermaids are dropping.

Suzie explained there are too many educational and occupational opportunities for young women now to choose this.

These women here today, she told us, are probably the last of the Haenyeo.

We spent the final days of our trip up north in the hip, techy city of Seoul. The modern, urban values felt a striking contrast to the traditional Haenyeo and quiet Jeju Island.

As we prepared to come home, I reflected on our newly married friends, the beauty of Jeju, the brave Haenyeo, and the notion of grown children making the pilgrimage back to the land of their parents and grandparents… and I tried abalone.

You know what? It tasted like the sea.

Mari Foreman Groff is a lawyer and Wenatchee native. She and her husband, Alan, grow tree fruit and some pretty cute kids.

Industrial chic John Sirmon had been building custom and

Photos by Travis Knoop

spec homes for better than 15 years when he got his chance to go all in on his own home in Sunnyslope.

A friend later defined it as “industrial chic.”

“I have never built the same home twice,” said John, “but what was different about this project is the land. It had no covenants or restrictions. I could do whatever I wanted.

“Over the years, you catalog ideas into the back of your mind hoping at some point you can actually create them. This project was that time.

“My wife, Kaye, and I walked the property to identify the location and position the house. From there, we simply sketched the house out. It was easy to do really. We knew the size/dimensions of the garage and bedrooms we wanted and the basic overall square footage. This helped to focus on the

}}} Continued on page 26

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The Sunnyslope home sits on 1.56 acres.

AT LEFT — The great room has massive scale and volume.

The standard engineered trusses — typically sheet rocked over — are exposed. The centerpiece structure is used as a seasonal décor and art display, but is designed for a future fire place.

BOTTOM LEFT — Dining and kitchen area is exposed to valley views. The beams with copper wrapped ends extend through the wall, adding dimension and depth.

BOTTOM MIDDLE — Extra wide space around the island ensures many people can enjoy this space together.

BOTTOM RIGHT — The main entry and everyday drop off spot includes lockers from the old middle school of Bill Gates. Everyone has their designated locker, which helps keep clutter at bay.

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Industrial chic }}} Continued from page 24

more important areas of the house.

“Kind of like answering questions to a test, get the easy questions answered first then go back to focus on the more difficult. It does not get overwhelming that way.”

The Sirmons finished the 3,374-square-foot home with four bedrooms and 3.25 baths in 2012.

It features soaring exposed wood truss beams and vaulted ceilings and stained concrete flooring. The open floor plan includes two separate gathering areas. There is a home gym off of the master bedroom The home sits on 1.56 acres.

“My delight is the evolution of the finished look of every room in the house. I literally touched every piece of wood in this house from the delivery to the installation.

“But maybe more, is the overall satisfaction of taking a unique concept from my mind to reality.”

Kaye was an equal partner in the process, said John.

“We share the same tastes.

Often, we would independently make a decision and more times than not, it was the same thing.

A common phrase is ‘that was easy’ with us.”

These days, John said his favorite spot at the house is being outside, looking in when the sun is about to set and it is dark enough the interior lights make all the colors and textures seem to pop.

“My wife likes the view from the inside out. The view of Horse Lake Barn, Meadows and the Enchantments are her favorites and can be seen from many of the rooms in our home.”

Now, the Sirmons have decided to move on, and they have

The powder room was kept simple and clean.

listed the house with Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co. “Our last child is headed to college soon. We are excited to go create something new for us,”

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said John.

Travis Knoop is a real estate photographer working in Central Washington. More of his work can be found at www.TravisKnoopPhotography.com.

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>>

column moving up to the good life

june darling

Misusing our strengths can lead to problems and lack of success What’s the root cause of

people’s problems, lack of success and distress?

Usually, we point to a weakness, a deficiency in some area.

What if we have it all wrong?

What if it’s not so much about deficiencies, but rather understanding how to best use our strengths?

In the early years of our marriage, my husband John used to angrily react when I asked him questions.

He seemed to feel overwhelmed by what he called my “incessant, probing, intrusion.”

In his opinion, it showed a lack of sensitivity and caring. “Sometimes I feel like you are shining a bright light in my eyes and analyzing me.”

Some conversations would come to a halt with his hand in the air as he walked away muttering, “Stop interrogating me.”

I was hurt, angry and at a loss.

John thought I needed to work on my lack of sensitivity. That wasn’t it. What I needed to work on was how to properly use the strength of curiosity.

In the May issue of The Good Life, I recounted the benefits of working with strengths, then left you with two ways to identify your strengths, by reflecting on two questions — what’s good about you and what energizes you.

This month, after identifying our strengths, it’s time to consider how to use them well.

For the rest of our lives, we will need to become more aware, wiser and more prudent, about which gift to use, at what time and place, in what way, and in what amount.

My seven-year-old granddaughter, Anna, has the budding strengths of humor and wit. Sometimes, however, how she expresses those gifts looks more to me like sassiness and even disrespect.

But she’s getting the idea.

After a recent comment, Anna looked at my disapproving face, and asked, “Did I go over the line with that comment?”

In the past I would have told Anna that her behavior was sassy or disrespectful. She would have hung her head or run out of the room. Then one day, Anna dried her tears and said, “I was just trying to be funny.”

Aha! She, like me, was learning how to better work with her strengths.

If we want to develop our strengths, here are a series of related questions to carry around in the back of our minds — Is this the right strength to use, is this the right amount, is this the right way to use this strength, is this the right place and time?

Anna and I are learning about refining the way we use our strengths as well as how much of our strengths to use. Perhaps the easiest thing to finesse is how much of our strength to dish out.

Some people have a wonderful chatty, conversational gift that can be overused so that it becomes excessive. Eventually others stop listening or walk away.

When we see that others are not responding well to us, we get our feelings hurt, and decide to teach our friends a lesson. We decide to not talk at all.

The real answer to how much of our strengths to use is to look

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to Aristotle. Aristotle taught the value of the Golden Mean. The best amount of our strengths to use is right in the middle — not too much, not too little.

Think of how Goldilocks evaluated things in the story of The Three Bears. The chairs could be too high or too low, the soups too hot or too cold, the beds too hard or too soft. She looked for the one that was “just right” — in the middle.

If we want others to appreciate our gifts, we need to practice dialing the amount we use to “just right.”

Another rather easy fix is around when and where to use our strengths. It takes a little situational awareness and impulse control before we put our mouths in gear.

I remember a man, who clearly had the gift of humor, re-telling a well-crafted story about something funny his wife had said.

This story was told during a time-crunched business seminar with a bunch of black suits.

The man got an elbow to his side from his wife. The speaker gave a “what-are-you-thinking” look, then moved on. When the man was over, the wife was still angry and the man was shunned by participants.

Some people are very thoughtful before they interject their thoughts. Some of us don’t know what we are thinking until we talk.

We, of the latter sort, are the ones who need to practice taking a breath, taking stock of where we are, and what’s happening around us before jumping right in. And, yes, I am still working on this.

As I get older, it’s harder for

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me to hold a thought, or more likely a question. I am learning to curb my impulse by jotting the question down and waiting for the appropriate time to ask it.

To sum up the situation, we will not be happy, the world will not open its doors, life will not be good if we don’t learn how to use our strengths well.

It’s just as important to note that we may be damaging ourselves (and others) by not understanding that what we are calling a deficiency may be a strength… misused.

While we wait for the world to get that, we can start right now into turning complaints around from being wounds into being a useful mining tool for digging deeper, for chipping away the dross, and for extricating our strengths.

We may surprise ourselves as we find the strength of curiosity in interrogators, humor in buffoons and sassy kids, and communicators in chatter boxes.

If you, like me, want to keep polishing your strengths keep those questions in mind — is it the right strength, in the right amount; am I using this strength in the right way, at the right time and place.

Then, as we keep practicing, we will get better at graciously giving our gifts away, and they will be gratefully received.

How might you move up to the Good Life by learning how to skillfully develop your strengths?

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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column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Walking for the health of it F

or a decade of my writing articles in The Good Life, I have been extolling the virtues of regular exercise and walking, especially as we age.

This is not just my personal opinion, but it is also backed up by science and research.

After I finished writing this article, I received an email from Harvard Health that says: “Walk your way to health. In less than 30 minutes a day, walking may be one of the most powerful ‘medicines’ available. It can lower your risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and keep your memory sharp.”

The American Heart Association recommends brisk walking for at least 30 minutes, five days a week or intense aerobic exercise (such as running) for 20 minutes, three times a week.

No matter whether it is walking, jogging, biking or dancing, we need to keep moving. Einstein said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

Hundreds of medical studies support our need for regular exercise. Multiple medical studies and researchers have confirmed that regular walking reduces the risk of cardiac events by 31 percent and significantly prolongs the lives of both men and women.

Even walking a minimum of five to six miles a week at a pace of two miles an hour was protective. Weekly walking longer and farther every week gave even more cardiovascular protection.

I have discovered personally that walking as a part of my daily life pays many benefits including my health, my mood and overall happiness. Regular moderate exercise helps protect against dementia, artery

Walking is such an easy exercise. You don’t need any special equipment other than good shoes. No fees need to be paid while walking on sidewalks or trails.

No special clothes are needed... disease, obesity, diabetes and depression as well as some forms of cancer.

Since I have become an older adult, I have been walking more than running (which I never really enjoyed). Running causes us to absorb a lot of impact on our bodies as we age.

Walkers have a reduced risk of exercise-related injuries compared to runners.

My wife and I have Apple watches that record the number of steps we take and the distance we have walked on our daily walks. Lynn often walks with two or three other women while I walk our dog Jackson every day. We both average about 2.5 miles a day.

Walking is such an easy exercise. You don’t need any special equipment other than good shoes. No fees need to be paid while walking on sidewalks or trails. No special clothes are needed except to dress appropriately for the climate.

Walking up and down stairs is also very good for you. Canadian researchers studied 64-year-old males, comparing them lifting weights, walking and going up and down stairs. As you would expect, stair climbing was more June 2020 | The Good Life

taxing than brisk walking, but even more so than walking up a steep incline.

An interesting study of 12,000 adults living in inner cities showed less likelihood of being overweight than those living in the suburbs. Suburbanites were more likely to be overweight by 45 percent and obese by 15 percent. The researchers felt it was driving cars vs. walking that played a role.

I suspect it also might relate to affluence that affected the eating habits in suburbia.

If you are goal driven, I would suggest walking two to four miles a day, at least five days a week. Research suggests that 2,000 steps is about one mile of walking.

This morning I walked 5,479 steps that covered 2.33 miles, according to my Apple watch. You don’t need this watch to tell you this, but it is a motivator for me.

The important thing is to try to walk briskly at about 100 steps per minute.

Some exercise researchers wondered if the benefits of walking were related to genetics over brisk movement.

In Finland, doctors studied 16,000 same-sex twins. (Who would have guessed there were that many Finnish same-sex twins!)

After 20 years of followup (again amazing), 1,252 had died. During the study period, the sedentary sibling’s death rate was significantly higher than their actively exercising twin sibling’s death rate.

So stay motivated, walking regularly with a friend or friends if possible. Swing your arms with each step and walk at a steady pace.

Exercise burns calories. It is estimated that we will burn 100 calories per mile. That might not seem like much, but a study of 5,000 men and women showed that the average American gains 2.2 pounds a year during their middle age. This 15 year study showed that walking just 35 minutes a day saved a 160 pound person 15 pounds of flab over 15 years.

For those of us who qualify as seniors, walking can be our best medicine, readily available to improve or maintain our health.

My Rx is “keep moving, keep walking for the health of it.”

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.

>> RANDOM QUOTE

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin.

At last it dawned on me that these obstacles — Alfred D. Souza were my life. www.ncwgoodlife.com

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The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

Leyton’s Crazy World 12-year-old has YouTube channel: ‘Making people laugh and smile is my favorite thing’

By Leyton Pinto

Twelve-year-old boys throw

baseballs. They hit home runs and celebrate their touchdowns.

I can’t throw a baseball and I definitely can’t leap high into the air to snag a football in the end zone.

But I absolutely can entertain a group of people and make them smile. I am a 12-year-old boy who can dance, sing and act.

I started off like most boys. I tried being on a baseball team for three years. At first I enjoyed it because it was new, but soon after I got bored and then quit.

It just wasn’t fun to me because it just never seemed to fit my personality.

I also tried soccer, karate and tennis but I quit those too even though I was really excited to try them out. I wanted to do something after school for fun, but all the activities I was trying out didn’t stick.

I remember that the first play I saw was Peter Pan, a play that my big sister Kylie was in.

When I saw her performing her heart out and making the whole audience smile, it made me want to be up on stage doing that too.

I looked around for children’s plays going on in my hometown of Wenatchee. I found one, The Night at the Library, signed up to audition, and on my first try I landed one of the main parts.

I remember being so nervous before I auditioned because there was dance in the play and

I had never danced in front of people before. My heart was beating out of my chest, but I went in and rocked it.

I quickly learned that I love dancing and acting so much because I perform my heart out and enjoy the process of getting into character.

After the play ended, I was sad because it was so much fun and I made a lot of friends. I decided that I wanted to continue taking classes at the same studio that put on the play.

Most of the people that were in the play took dance classes, and once I started it was unstoppable. They were so much fun because I got to move my body, and I instantly felt a connection to the movement and the music.

I loved dance and theater so much, and I knew I wanted to get more practice in front of the camera.

I started a YouTube channel and called it Leyton’s Crazy World. I incorporate acting, dancing and singing into YouTube because I get to write skits, play different characters, sing, dance and express myself in the process.

About one week after I started my channel, I had over 100 subscribers. I was so happy that people enjoyed watching my skits and videos. It has grown over 150 subscribers since then.

Now, I am at over 250 subscribers.

I still do all these things still to this day. I really want more people to see my talents because

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Leyton Pinto’s Youtube channel has grown to more than 250 subscribers.

making people laugh and smile is my favorite thing.

I do lots of different types of dance: acrobatics, jazz, tap, lyrical, musical theater and hiphop.

I know I am different than a lot of 12-year-old boys, because most of them play sports every day. But I do theater, YouTube and dance and I love it.

My biggest goal is to continue growing my skills so I can do what I love as an adult.

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I get to write skits, play different characters, sing, dance and express myself in the process.

I have my mom and my dad and my sister who watch me dance all the time and are really supportive. I have also made a

“I know I am different than a lot of 12-year-old boys... I do theater, YouTube and dance and I love it,” said Leyton.

lot of friends who are supportive of me as well, and want to see me succeed.

I want to inspire kids my age to be themselves; don’t worry about what most people are doing and just do what you love.

This is something I will stick with and hopefully grow to make it big one day. I aspire to be in movies and TV, and maybe one day be on Broadway.

I am so grateful that this magazine let me tell everyone about my passions and my aspirations.

I feel very fortunate that I have

this platform to tell my story, and to hopefully inspire people reading to follow their passions too.

So talent agents, if you’re reading this, give me a call.

To see Leyton’s Crazy World, go to Youtube.com and search for Leyton’s Crazy World.

fun stuff what to do around here for the next month

Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

Due to the coronavirus, the order for social distancing and other measures in effect to prevent the spread of the virus, the calendar is taking a month off. We hope to be back next month with lots of fun stuff to do around the area.

Good + Local The introductory offer is coming to an end.

If you’ve been receiving The Good Life at no charge, it’s time to become a paid subscriber. At only $25 a year, you can keep The Good Life coming to your home every month. To stay on our mailing list, subscribe at www.ncwgoodlife.com OR, mail a $25 check (for 12 issues, in-state addresses) to: The Good Life subscription services 1107 East Denny Way Apt. B-7 • Seattle, WA 98122 June 2020 | The Good Life

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>>

column those were the days

rod molzahn

Steam boat captains – rock stars of the upper Columbia T

hey were a brotherhood of fearless, skilled and well-paid men who knew the river — all its rocks, snags, rapids, whirlpools and channels.

They knew how to maneuver a 300 ton, 130-foot long, four-deck, steam powered rear paddle wheel ship up and down the wild river of the west. No easy feat.

The captains were respected and idolized by the people they served along the river. They brought needed goods to the towns and took the production of the north-country back to the railroad at Wenatchee. No passenger on any of the riverboats ever forgot the experience.

J.A. Whiting worked as a deckhand on the ships and in Bruce Wilson’s book, Late Frontier, he described a trip up river.

“The steamer fought its way up the Columbia in a cacophony of sounds, paddle wheel slapping tirelessly at the water, the steam engine chuff-chuffing, a creaking of the long connecting rods, bow plowing through the Columbia’s relentless current, clanging of the ship’s bell, the softer dinner gong, a deep throated whistle messaging a landing just ahead, All these sounds changing from one mile to the next, and when cliffs closed in, all of them and their echoes becoming a single sound.’”

Most said it could never be done until Captain William P. Gray brought the first steamship, the City of Ellensburgh, to the upper Columbia.

In a 1928 letter to Linley Hull, Captain Gray recalled the trip.

“We left Pasco early in August

Captain C.E. Hansen on the riverboat steamer City of Ellensburgh. Photo courtesy Okanogan County Historical Society, 3979.

1888 with 35 tons of freight and all the fuel (cord wood or coal) we could carry. It took 22 hours to reach Priest Rapids. Working two days with lines and spars we got through Priest Rapids, where I took a chance of drowning five men and myself in running a line down the lower rapid. From this point the river was fairly good to Rock Island Rapids where we had to use four lines at once to make the passage and avoid reefs; but by reason of the poor power of the boat, we were dangerously near the dead line of failure.”

Captain Gray continued up the Columbia (what a sight it must have been to the few settlers standing on the banks) through the Entiat and Pateros Rapids and up the Okanogan River until grounding near the town of Monse and unloading the freight. The City of Ellensburgh was the only steamer on the upper Columbia until 1893.

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Captain Gray had first-hand training in river running.

In 1861 he, along with his brothers and their father, William H. Gray, built a boat at their homestead on Lake Osooyos. Father Gray was a master mechanic and carpenter tired of farming.

With no nails, only hand made wooden pegs, they built an open boat 91 feet long with a 12-foot beam. It was powered with long oars called sweeps.

After some practice on the lake, they loaded the boat with family and belongings and pushed off down the Okanogan River. They shot McLoughlin Falls and soon reached the Columbia.

They negotiated the difficult Pateros, Entiat and Rock Island Rapids then Priest Rapids. From there it was an easy float to the mouth of the Deschutes River on the lower Columbia.

Captain Gray must have

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thought often of that harrowing trip as he piloted the City of Ellensburgh through the same rapids.

By 1890, J.J. Hill knew where his railroad would cross the Columbia River and the North Cascades. He knew that it would not travel up the Columbia to the Okanogan country but he did understand that there would be significant freight coming down from there to the railroad at Wenatchee.

Hill told his friend and business partner, Mississippi steamboat Captain Alexander Griggs, that there was money to be made on the upper Columbia.

In 1891, Griggs traveled to Wenatchee to see the Columbia for himself. It was a challenging river, not at all like the Mississippi and the Red River where he had piloted riverboats for years.

The Captain liked a challenge.

He returned to Minnesota to put preparations in motion.

In 1893 he returned to Wenatchee, on the Great Northern, formed the Columbia and Okanogan Steamboat Company and began assembling a fleet of ships beginning with the City of Ellensburgh and the Thomas L. Nixon, a large boat the Great Northern had used to ferry rail cars across the Columbia before the bridge was built at Rock Island.

The C. & O. Company dominated the steamboat business on the river for 21 years.

Over those years, 22 steamships plied the upper Columbia and the C & O. Company built or bought from competitors, 17 of them. The boats ran daily from Wenatchee to Brewster and,

at times of high water, up the Okanogan to Riverside. Captain Griggs built a home on north Wenatchee Avenue and another on the banks of the Columbia at Brewster.

During the massive 1894 flood, a log collided with a cable ferry trying to reach Brewster from the Douglas County side.

Separated from its cable, the ferry started down the swollen Columbia carrying a man and wife and their wagon with horses.

The husband took to the ferry’s rowboat and tried to guide the ferry towards shore while Captain Griggs, on horseback, rode along the shoreline shouting instructions. The ferry was hauled ashore at Pateros.

Captain Griggs’ Brewster home floated off its foundations and traveled downriver to the mouth of Navarre Coulee.

When Alexander Griggs bought the Thomas L. Nixon from the Great Northern he got its captain, Claus Hansen, in the deal.

Captain Griggs made Hansen captain of the City of Ellensburgh and refitted the boat with a more powerful engine and larger boilers greatly improving the boats ability to buck the Columbia current on the upstream runs. Captain Hansen kept the job until the City of Ellensburgh was retired and dismantled in 1905.

During the 1894 flood, a group of people had assembled at the Douglas County shore of the Columbia at the site of the Central Ferry. The ferry was washed out, as were all the ferries in the area. The people were stranded and running short of food.

Nellie Gallarno recalled, “Almost anything could be seen floating down the Columbia; buildings, haystacks (one captained by a crowing rooster), wagons, beds, boats, barrels…”

Guy Victor, 10 years old at the time of the flood remembered, “trees, buildings, drowned stock and about two million feet of logs from Canada.”

In the midst of the clogged river, Captain Claus Hansen brought the City of Ellensburgh from Wenatchee to the upper river to ferry the stranded folks across. It was the only steamer to accomplish the feat during the flood.

Captain Claus Hansen retired from steam boating in 1909 and served two terms as mayor of Okanogan.

As glamorous and profitable as steam boating was and as skilled as the captains were, it was dangerous business, especially for the wooden boats.

Of the 22 ships on the river between 1888 and 1914, four were lost to fire and seven to the rocks. The Rock Island Rapids claimed the Selkirk, rocks near Brewster sunk the Enterprise and the graveyard of the Entiat Rapids took the North Star, Camano, Alexander Griggs, W.H. Pringle and likely the Gerome.

Not long after the Great Northern reached Wenatchee, talk began to grow about a rail line from Wenatchee to Oroville.

J.J. Hill and the Great Northern resisted for years but it was clear that the line would come and when it did Hill’s friend, Captain Griggs, would lose his business.

In 1910, the C. & O. Steamboat Company began selling off its assets.

Later that year, grading for the rail line began moving south from Oroville. Two years later the line from Wenatchee north was begun. The first trains began running in 1914.

The following year, the last four steamboats of the C. & O. Company burned to their waterlines while tied to the dock at the foot of Fifth Street in Wenatchee.

Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake. speak@nwi.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.

June 2020 | The Good Life

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the back page: that’s life

Then and now

By Jim Brigleb

I get a kick out of Dan McCo-

nnell’s cartoon “Then and Now.” Like other readers, I’m led to reflect on how times have changed. And boy have they.

Take television for example.

Are you old enough to remember Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, or The Ozzie and Harriet Show?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) kept a tight rein on decency standards. In the 1950s, married couples had separate beds.

And from there, we graduated to the requirement that if ever the married couple was on one bed, or even a sofa, there had to be one foot touching the ground.

Because everybody knows that as long as you have a foot anchored on terra firma, nothing naughty can happen.

Further, both people were fully clothed, the husband in his suit and tie, and the wife in a modest, below-the-knee dress; shoes, of course, still intact on both people.

Fast forward 45 years. Occasionally, through no fault of my own, I will be viewing a show where a couple ends up on a bed.

Perhaps one or both actors

will have a foot on the floor.

However, the leg (and all other parts) are stark naked. And the leg placement has nothing to do with decency — it is more of an artistic consideration.

Married? Are you kidding?

That would be dull; these people, whatever their gender, just met a few minutes ago.

And the aforementioned show titles, like Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best, would carry different connotations altogether.

Then there’s the language.

Remember what the Beav used to say when he’d get really riled up at his brother Wally? Crikey.

That’s right, Crikey.

I don’t think it was until the 1960s that anybody uttered HE-double toothpicks. And if that cropped up in the entertainment, my dad would march over and turn off the offending appliance and mutter, “That’s enough of that trash.”

Today, I think it must be an FCC requirement to include profanity, and particularly the F-bomb. In fact, if it’s a genre I enjoy, such as foreign espionage, then I’m pretty sure it has to be used in every second or third sentence.

Honestly, I’ve never watched a really good spy show where the protagonist gets angry due to the conflict established in

the plot and says, “What the crikey!?!” And that’s a shame.

Anyway, the impact of constant profanity on television and in the movies has had a wonderful effect on people in their 20s and 30s.

At the gym the other day, I had the privilege of listening to the conversation of a couple of young men who were very creative with the English grammar.

The slang word, which once referred to intercourse, was used as an interjection, noun, adjective, verb, adverb, participle, and preposition.

It just made one wonder why we bother having so many other words. I mean, dictionaries are filled with so much waste.

Speaking of the gym, this is where I really don’t get the Then and Now conundrum.

Based on the above, one would think guys in their 20s and 30s would be totally unabashed about nakedness in the men’s locker room.

No, it’s us old guys who grew up in high school gym classes, forced to take showers — without clothes on! You had freshman in with sophomores, juniors and seniors. Peach fuzz and beards.

The freshman ran the gauntlet of being towel snapped. Today, that would be bullying and a hate crime; then it was sort of a

rite of passage.

But back to the gym, the old guys still take showers while the younger guys look at us like we’re some kind Jim Brigleb is a reof perverted tired teacher living exhibitionist. in Wenatchee who loves writing as an Meanwhile, outlet. His books if a shower can be found on is required, Amazon by using the youngers the search term “Brigleb.” sneak into a stall wearing a bathrobe.

How does this add up?

Sometimes, I wonder where things will go in the next 45 years. What will shock my kids and grandkids?

I can just imagine my grandson lecturing his children and grandchildren: “In my day, people had the decency to use the F-Bomb, and sex on television didn’t include animals. We NEVER showed an actual bowel movement, and cannibalism was considered a heinous crime!”

“What? I said ‘heinous’… go look it up.

“What do you mean there are no dictionaries? Crikey!”

READY TO PLAY WHEN IT’S OK! Stay Tuned for the ‘Green Light’ for us to get

The

Until Then, C

heck

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