REHABBING A TIRED TRAILER Y FINDING HAPPINESS
WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
NUMBER ONE MAGAZINE
May 2020
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Walking in Wenatchee (But keeping a safe distance, of course)
plus STORIES OF RECOVERY FROM DRUG ADDICTION to find hope HIKING THE WILD SIDE WITH PEN IN HAND
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DANGERO
US WOME
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ENDAR
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MAGAZ
March
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2016
THE M OF A AKING
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COWB OY
From to yee-quiet scientis t horse-rihawing ding m an
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Cary ordway
they built this city
’s
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Contents
In these Challenging and Uncertain times we PAY TRIBUTE to All FIRST RESPONDERS.
page 20
lief carlsen finds a remedy for restlessness
THANK YOU: Doctors, Nurses, and all other First Responders: Law Enforcement, Truck Drivers, Store Clerks & Cashiers. THANK YOU for stepping up to Protect and Help our Community. Meanwhile, we’ll keep you Smiling and keep bringing back those Memories with THE GREATEST HITS OF ALL TIME:
Features
8 social isolation in the lone ranger days
It wasn’t so difficult to keep away from infected people when one of them was an icky boy
9 The tale of two recoveries
About 1 in 10, or 23.5 million people in this country deal with drug and alcohol abuse. Only a small percentage seek help to recover. Victor and Joey are two who have found success
12 walking in wenatchee
Darlene Matule is sometimes kidded that her “sport” is reading a book, but now she walks the streets and trails of Wenatchee and is inspired by what she sees
14 where’s the just right place to retire?
Kalin Raible and her wife haven’t found the perfect spot, but that just means there are more places to look
STAY IN...STAY HEALTHY... STAY WITH SUNNY FM! 93.9 FM Wenatchee Valley 101.3 FM Brewster/Pateros 101.9 FM Okanogan Valley 95.3 FM Lake Chelan Valley ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ 106.3 FM Methow Valley
ADVENTURE Life needs a little adventure. From around the corner or around the world, read what your neighbors are doing.
LEARNING NOT TO BE A KLUTZ • EVENTS CALENDAR
WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
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THERE’S GOOD NEWS TODAY Y EVENTS CALENDAR
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September 2018
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NUMBER ONE
October 2018
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PASSAGE TO JUNEAU
HOME TOUR
BRAND NEW, OLD TIME FARMHOUSE
They finally arrived! Brothers finish trek started 40 years ago
20 rehabbing a house while on vacation
Lief and Mary Carlsen were getting a bit restless during their winter sojourn to Arizona, so they bought and fixed up a 1940’s house
DRIVING HISTORIC ROUTE 66 Y EVENTS CALENDAR
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November 2018
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LIVING LARGE IN A SMALL SPACE DOWNTOWN
LLamas are an aging hiker’s best friend heart disease in women: more deadLy than breast cancer
plus LIVING FULLER BY SLOWING DOWN TIME
plus PERFECT MATCH WIFE GIVES HUSBAND THE GIFT OF LIFE
RaLLYING TO pROTEcT TREES OF NaSON RIDGE
THE BIRDHOUSE MAN Y EVENTS CALENDAR
WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
NUMBER ONE
MAGAZINE
August 2018
WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
plus
A SPORT SO FUN IT’S CALLED ULTIMATE
16 ‘it has great bones’
Kelly Rollen and her husband Roger each had a vision for the sad, dreary trailer they bought while snowbirding. His involved an excavator and a dumpster, but her idea of renovation prevailed
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July 2018
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MOVE TO MEXICO One more adventure: 'We felt like kids again'
becoming an american
now a citizen of where her heart belongs
plus REVISITING THE CONTAINER HOUSE NOW THAT IT’S FINISHED
plus monsterlove art: letting the freak flag fly
They Built This City: NEW DOWNTOWN IS FlOOR kING’S lASTING lEGACy
unlikely chelan home offers stunning lake views
WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
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January 2019
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MY BEST DAY
READERS’ STORIES FROM 2018 of birth, rebirth, travel & joy Second look
Some of our favorite photos from 2018
Bald Eagles
Big birds hold special place in our hearts
Bold beauty
Hillside home is grand with generous space
LOCAL Local people just like you leading an engaged and enthusiastic Life. Uplifting and inspiring articles and features 12 months a year.
Receive an adventure in reading every month. 12-Month Subscription $25 ($30 Out Of State) Name:
Art sketches n Naturalist and artist Keith Warrick, page 27 n Author Jamie Thomas, page 30 Columns & Departments 6 A bird in the lens: Great Horned Owl 24 The traveling doctor: Happiness during the pandemic 25 June Darling: Share your gifts with the world 26 Pet Tales: Older dogs get their day 27-31 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 32 History: Railroad builder James J. Hill 34 That’s life: Morning at Costco May 2020 | The Good Life
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Year 14, Number 5 May 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, Kai Knell, Susan Sampson, Dominick Bonny, Darlene Matule, Kalin Raible, Kelly Rollen, Lief Carlsen, Dianne Cornell, Mike Irwin, Bruce McCammon, Donna Cassidy, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin and Rod Molzahn Advertising: Lianne Taylor Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Dianne Cornell Ad design, Clint Hollingsworth 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 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)
OPENING SHOT
FINDING BALANCE By Kai Knell
I just wanted to
send you a picture because I had a great time today. I am currently a member at the Wenatchee Row and Paddle Club and I rode my Onewheel down to the boat house today and paddled on the river and it was spectacular. After doing online school today I thought I’d go out and get some exercise. I’m a teacher at Eastmont High School for the last 20 years. Here is a picture, I thought you may enjoy.
On the cover
Donna Cassidy took this photo of Darlene Matule at the Ped sculpture in the Sculpture Garden at the foot of the walking bridge to the Apple Capital Loop Trail. Darlene shares her love of walking in her story on page 12.
ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact Lianne Taylor at (509) 6696556 or lianne@ncwgoodlife.com
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The Good Life® is a registered trademark of NCW Good Life, LLC. Copyright 2020 by NCW Good Life, LLC.
EXP MEM LORER B SALE ERSHIP ON N COD OW! E: SP R ING2
Support your local museum wenatcheevalleymuseum.org
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Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. Earl Nightingale
May 2020
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column a bird in the lens
Great Horned Owl is, well, grand indeed E
By Bruce McCammon
veryone seems to enjoy owls. Our association of owls with wisdom comes from Greek mythology where an owl accompanied Athena, the goddess of wisdom. There are 216 species of owls scattered around the globe, 19 of which reside in North America. Taxonomically, Barn Bruce McCammon Owls are is retired, colordistinctly blind and enjoys different from photographing the birds in north cenother North tral Washington. American owls, which are in the family of true owls. If you’re like me, this leads to other questions, which I am content to leave unresolved. One common question I am asked is, “What is the largest owl?” The answer, “it depends.” Great Gray Owls are the tallest North American owl. Great Horned Owls and Snowy Owls, however, weigh more and have larger feet. Suffice it to say, all three are big birds that astound us when we see them fly. Great Horned Owls can be found in forests, along streams and in open country across America. They range in size from 18-24 inches and have a wingspan that can approach five feet. They can weigh up to 5.5 pounds. These gray-brown birds have reddish brown faces and a distinct white patch on the throat. One of their most distinctive “field marks” is the prominent
Who’s looking at you? A young Great Horned Owl, above, and an adult, below.
“ear tufts” which are feathers, not ears. The Long-eared Owl has distinctive ear tufts but they are closer together than those on the Great Horned Owl. Longeared Owls are also smaller than Great Horned Owls. Great Horned Owls begin nesting in late winter and will usually lay two to three eggs. The eggs hatch in about 28-35 days and the young fledge at 9-10 weeks. It is always good to leave bird nests alone and to observe them from a distance. Most of the time the nests will be fairly high in a tree or on a cliff so it becomes natural to move a distance away for better viewing. Of course, binoculars and spotting scopes provide greatly magnified views of distant nests or birds. Since Great Horned Owls are common across the United
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States, don’t be surprised if you hear their deep, booming calls. You can sample a variety of Great Horned Owl hoots on the Audubon website (https://www. audubon.org/field-guide/bird/ great-horned-owl). I’ve seen Great Horned Owls in many locations around the United States. The photo of the adult owl shown here was taken at a roadside rest stop in north central Washington. The fuzzy, young owl photo was taken on private land near Bow, up near Bellingham. I’m always thrilled to have an owl sit calmly and either sleep or study me as I take photos. I try to not linger with them and hope that they get back to their normal daily lives soon after I depart. I hope you get the opportunity to see these big, wonderful birds. You may be content just to
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hear the hoo-hoo-hoo calls during the evening and night. Good luck.
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editor’s notes
MIKE CASSIDY
Good
All it takes is vision... and convincing a spouse Coming over White Pass —
the prettiest route to Western Washington, if time is not of the essence — I came upon a Million Dollar Idea. My wife was driving and we were just a little west of the small town of Packwood when I spotted in an overgrown field a classic RV from what must have been the 1960s. The front was curved like a bubble, peppered with windows; the slick sides lead to the bubble-shaped backend, also bespeckled with windows. If the word “retro” means anything, then this RV was Retro Cool with a capital R. I should mention my wife likes to binge watch HGTV, the home of house flippers, and I have seen everything from fallen-from-grace mansions rehabbed and flipped to tiny homes spruced up and resold for a profit. RVs, along with trailers and fifth-wheels, are the original tiny homes, right? They have everything — bedrooms, baths, kitchen, living space, sometimes even a pantry and washers and dryers all packed into a few hundred square feet. If you drive around almost anywhere — not just over White Pass but here in the Wenatchee Valley, too — you will see RVs and trailers that appear to have sat idle for years in side yards and fields. Sometimes covered with a tattered tarp, sometimes mossy with age, these tiny homes have been mentally abandoned by their owners. “I bet we could buy some of these old RVs for pennies, fix them up and flip them,” I enthused to my wife while point-
WHY Seattle?
Dear Good Life: We love every issue of your magazine and are happy to pay $25 a year to read our friends’ and neighbors’ “Good + Local” stories. But why am I sending this check to Seattle? It won’t stop me but it’s a little ironic to say “Good + Local” and not even offer an explanation. I worry that some folks will be put off... tell us a good story! — Andy K
Good question, Andy. After living 35 years in Cashmere and Wenatchee, we are spending time in Seattle babysitting our one-yearold granddaughter as her parents go back to work. (One is in health care, the other helps keep the internet operating.) We also get to be “fill-in” babysitters for our two young grandsons in Bellevue. As most grandparents will tell you, the joy of spending time around grandchildren radiates through the soul. The “heart” of our magazine still beats in the greater Wenatchee area. Our writers and ad salesperson are still in the Wenatchee area. The magazine is staying “Local” and we will strive to keep it “Good.” ing out the Retro RV. “What? It’s out in the field because it’s broken down. We don’t know anything about repairing engines or transmissions. How would we even get it to a place where we could work on it?” It’s true that sometimes, my wife doesn’t immediately see the upside to my great ideas, so I May 2020 | The Good Life
wasn’t exactly disheartened by her objections. Yet, she kind of had a point. So, I filed the idea away for another day. That day came when I started reading Kelly Rollen’s Facebook posts this past winter on how she and her husband Roger bought a junker trailer, ripped out the insides, redid the walls, brought in new furnishings and created a bright, cute tiny home. I was impressed with Kelly’s vision for this dark, dingy trailer. And, truth be told, I was also impressed with Kelly’s ability to convince her spouse to buy into her ideas involving work. Because, after all, they were vacationing in the southland, where this trailer was. I asked Kelly to write a story and to share before and after photos. She agreed. Check out her story on page 16. And wouldn’t you know it, but a week after I had Kelly’s story, occasional contributor Lief Carlsen sent us a story of how he and his wife Mary — while snowbirding in Arizona — bought a $24,000 house and began rehabbing it. Which involved wheelbarrowing rocks a quarter of a mile to fill in the backyard. That’s Lief for you — not a man to take a project lightly. We’re publishing both stories this issue. If we can’t work this month due to the coronavirus quarantine, at least we can read about other people working. One man’s decaying RV can be another’s road to riches. Keep dreaming and enjoy The Good Life. — Mike www.ncwgoodlife.com
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Social isolation in the time of Lone Ranger By Susan Sampson
I’ve been thinking about
social isolation imposed by the coronavirus, and my reaction is probably not typical. I’m not finding it to be too bad, except for my son’s having to cancel his visit and my husband’s driving me nuts by following me around with dire warnings and Clorox wipes if I so much as pick up junk mail out of our mailbox. Rather, I think of being 10 years old living three miles outside of a small village (pop. 1,500 or fewer) on the Oregon coast and it’s 1957. It was a time of isolation, but I recall it as being idyllic. School is out for the summer, so I won’t see my friends until September. There aren’t enough kids my age in our neighborhood to create any groups of 10 or more, so there’s no concern with “social distancing,” although certainly infections go around. Our school has closed in the past for a day now and then for flu. Gary from across the street has ringworm on his head, which has been shaved and he has to wear a cap made from a nylon stocking to hold pennies on his lesions, but nobody would touch an icky boy anyway, so he isn’t highly contagious. We race bicycles with balloon tires up and down our dirt street, all of two blocks long, running right off US 101. In July, I’ll pick blackberries, and in August, enough huckleberries for a pie. I dog-paddle in Munsel Lake. We have no TV at home, and won’t get it for another four years, and there is only one telephone in the house, but it’s for business.
We might eat out twice per year, when we have hamburgers at a café owned my one of the clients of my father’s plumbing shop. Besides, it’s installed permanently in the middle of the kitchen/dining room (no such thing as cordless, or even longcorded yet), and who wants to talk with everybody else listening? But we do have radio programs — The Lone Ranger comes on at 3:30, followed by The Children’s Story Hour at 4 p.m. where the narrator will read Dr. Doolittle to me, and after that, I’m fascinated by Dr. Dan, Detective, an M.D. hunting down medical clues, like hookworms entering the body through bare feet. That’s an awful lot of radio time, but I don’t know that anybody ever criticized it like they do with too much TV or computer time. In fact, my mother lives with the radio running all day long. I’m stuck inside on rainy days, but that’s okay — I can play phonograph records, although none of the records are pitched to kids — I hear the Figaro aria from The Barber of Seville because it’s comical, until I drop and crack the record. My cousin Patty and I play “Hide the button.” I have some scraps of fabric and can try to make costumes for the 7-inch tall dolls my grandmother has sent me, already adorned with elaborate crocheted costumes. If the mail fails to bring a letter, then it’s probably my turn
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Susan Sampson has kept her umbrella from the days of living on the wet side.
to write to my grandmother in Florida or to my gal pal 60 miles away in Eugene. That evening, it’s dinner time with simple home-cooked food like meatloaf, spaghetti with sauce consisting of hamburger and canned Campbell’s tomato soup, or pot roast on Sunday. We might eat out twice per year, when we have hamburgers at a café owned my one of the clients of my father’s plumbing shop. At dinner, we listen to KUGN out of Eugene, OR, playing country and western music, Tennessee Ernie Ford singing Sixteen Tons until it’s time for Garner Ted Armstrong with The Good Word About the World Tomorrow, when my dad com-
mands that the radio be turned off. In the evening, we read books, and Mom or Dad will read to us. We cover Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Treasure Island, Heidi, Old Yeller, Kidnapped and Robinson Crusoe. Does anybody else remember that what Ben Gun wanted most when he was rescued was a slice of cheese? Treats? Summertime, we were allowed Kool Aid. So relatively, now in the age of coronavirus, with a pile of electronics in my living room, cooped up with my latest love interest (for the past 20 years), and a bottle of Kirkland prosecco, better than chardonnay and $2 per bottle cheaper, what’s so hard about this?
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May 2020
The tale of two recoveries By Dominick Bonny
Victor Estrada and Joseph Hunter are fixtures of the Central Washington Recovery community. They are known to seemingly every addict in the five county region, especially those in recovery. They have become role models, mentors and sponsors to many looking to build a better life out of the ashes of longterm addiction. They have gone from members of the rogues gallery —individuals law enforcement officers know are bad news — to trusted partners in drug prevention efforts. They have the respect of local and state officials and regularly lobby and advise state legislators on drug prevention policies. And they are friends. This two-part story provides a brief glimpse into where they came from, who they are now and what they are trying to accomplish by “Making Recovery The Epidemic” — words emblazoned on nearly every clothing item they own. They’ve lived as slaves to addiction and now they are devoted to freeing others still under the thrall of the cruel master they once served body and soul — addiction.
Victor
Estrada was once a drug dealer. Now he calls himself a hope dealer. Over the course of his 45 years, he estimates he’s spent about 20 behind bars. It started with drinking around the age of six or seven. By 13 he was running with a gang and by 17 he was addicted to meth, cocaine and anything else he could get his hands on. He once told me a story about when he was 20 and he had just become a father. “My daughter was born when I was 20. The only way I knew how to raise income was by selling drugs,” he said. “Her mom got arrested when she was less than 5-weeks-old. Me and my friend were taking turns doing shifts on who was going to sell and then we would take showers and one person would watch my daughter while the other sold
drugs.” It wasn’t long before his home was raided, he lost custody of her and he was on his way to prison. After getting out he said he didn’t see the point in living if he couldn’t see his daughter, so he decided to go on a “suicide mission.” “I was on meth for 29 days. I went from 185 to 117 pounds,” Estrada said. “On the 29th day, I ended up in the emergency room, self-admitted.” He was at rock bottom and turned to social media to air his grievances. That’s when an old friend with a decade in recovery reached out to Victor Estrada and his fiancee Katie Skinner: Embracing recovery was his path back. him and invited to give birth and she told him looked deep inside himself and him to join a 12-step program. that if he wasn’t clean he would asked, “Why were you getting He had been in a 12-step pronever get to hold her daughter. high for 20 years?” gram before, but this time was It was at that moment he said he different. His niece was about }}} Continued on next page May 2020 | The Good Life
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THE TALE OF TWO RECOVERIES Victor Estrada
}}} Continued from previous page
Self-loathing was the answer. It didn’t help any that he gave his daughter up for adoption and he hated himself for it. So he used any substance around to dull the pain. Embracing recovery was his path back. “For me, the 12-step program is about change and growth,” he said. “Who you can become and how you can help others.” Helping others is his new mission. He works as a homeless outreach coordinator at the Women’s Resource Center, Bruce Housing in Wenatchee, getting people off the street and into recovery programs if they need it. He also uses social media to get the word out about people who need help and sets up crowdfunding campaigns for them. Recently, he and his friend Joseph Hunter learned about a local boy who had his bike stolen. They set up a GoFundMe with the goal of raising $150 to replace the bike. The next morning they had $750 in donations. So they got him a new bike, a $350 gift card to JCPenney for new clothes and a brand new Playstation 4. Needless to say, the boy and his mother were overwhelmed and grateful for the help and the outpouring of support from Victor, Joey, and the recovery community. Victor also just celebrated his fifth year in recovery, a date he calls his birthday and got engaged to his longtime girlfriend on the beach on the Oregon Coast. Victor’s story proves you can make a lot of mistakes and break a lot of things over the course of your life, but it’s never too late to change. Victor Estrada’s story proves it’s never too late to live a good life.
Joey Hunter makes the hand symbol of a 12 step group he’s involved in to frame the sun. The community folks in recovery have built for themselves is a mix of group therapy and spirituality, and for some, it’s the closest thing they have to family.
Joseph
Hunter’s path to addiction started in 1996, at 16. It started with marijuana, 10
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alcohol and cocaine. At 18 he did his first line of meth. Joey grew up in a poor family and said he never felt comfortable in his own skin. He was bullied in grade school, but held down straight A’s until his junior
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year of high school. However, he never graduated. “Drugs were too important,” he said. “I was an honor roll student, a boy scout and played football and basketball until I tasted meth in 1998.” In 2006 Joey tried heroin for the first time and “found out what true love really was.” He turned to the drug when — after breaking his ankle — he was prescribed the pain medication Percocet. When he went in for a refill, he failed a urinalysis and was denied further medication. “Before I got prescribed pills I had a wonderful job, a good life,” he said. “It took everything away from me that was good. A friend of mine introduced me to heroin. It was cheaper. It was readily available. There were no questions, no pee test, no nothing. And it took care of the pain.” He had never been an angel, but even when he was getting drunk at the bar every night and doing meth a few times a week he was still able to hold down a job and put a roof over his head. Heroin took things to another level. He spent the next decade as a transient and eventually lived on the streets in Moses Lake. Begging and stealing for enough to get his next fix, Joey regularly found himself in the backseat of a police car. He was no stranger to a jail cell either, and the authorities were looking to send him away for more than two years on an assortment of charges. That’s when an ex-girlfriend, the mother of his first daughter, visited him in jail. Her father had recently died due to drug and alcohol abuse and she said she didn’t want the same thing for their child. “That moment something changed,” he said. “I’d been out there so long in this state of homelessness, running the streets, that I didn’t think any-
THE TALE OF TWO RECOVERIES View stories of recoveries on video
He currently sponsors 12 other men and through social media he reaches hundreds more in the recovery community. one out there even cared about me anymore. I didn’t even care about myself.” When he got released he decided to get clean, and went to 180 12-step meetings in 90 days. At his next court date, he went before a judge who had seen him bouncing in and out of jail for a decade. He produced proof that he had been attending meetings and was making a real attempt at recovery. The judge dropped the charges and wished him luck in his new life. Now he’s been clean since Dec. 26, 2016 and has become a certified recovery coach. He currently sponsors 12 other men and through social media he reaches hundreds more in the recovery community. He and his friend Victor Estrada have started running virtual recovery meetings in these times of social distancing. He works as a machinist and has a close-knit family, raising four girls with his longtime girlfriend. He recently bought
Watch video interviews with Victor Estrada and Joey Hunter and their stories of recovery by scanning this QR code with your smart device or by finding the Central Washington Recovery Coalition on Facebook. The interviews are there in the videos tab. that 23.5 million ever receive or seek addiction treatment. It’s hard to calculate the odds of Joey making it from where he was to where he is today, but his story proves that with the right support systems socially and an earnest desire to change individually, it can be done.
Joey Hunter smiles with his daughter Karma Grace on the beach at Ocean Shores, Oregon during a recent family vacation.
a used Jeep 4x4 and likes to go fishing and off-roading. Joey’s struggles are shared by a growing population of Americans.
With You All the WAY!
About 1 in 10, or 23.5 million people in this country deal with drug and alcohol abuse. But Joey is in a minority in that group because only about 11 percent of
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Where We Play ALMOST Every Day! HOME
WRAC “AT HOME”! ABOUT THE WRAC
Dominick Bonny is an entrepreneurial journalist who creates written word and video stories on a freelance basis, manages social media accounts and communication campaigns. The stories above come from a number of interviews he did with Victor and Joey for a video series called “Stories of Recovery.” The series was produced for the North Central Accountable Community of Health on behalf of the Central Washington Recovery Coalition. To see all the videos in the series, visit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbiIItGRy2CHDJpIheRkq6g/ featured?view_as=subscriber
WRAC ‘AT HOME’ at WWW.WRAC.ORG
SERVICES BLOG
The
WORKOUTS, TIPS and RESOURCES to stay active at HOME until we’re
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Walking in Wenatchee What? Her walk? Yes, and the sights and people she sees are soul enriching
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By Darlene Matule
ears ago, if someone had told me I’d someday be living in downtown Wenatchee — in an old fruit warehouse — I’d have told them, “You’re crazy.” Now I do live in that old fruit warehouse. And I love it. We moved from Chelan in 2006 because the first-class healthcare was 45 minutes away. Five major surgeries later (four for Steve, one for me) we know we made a wise choice. Even if I were 30 years old and had no health problem worse than an occasional hangnail, I’d still choose to live in Wenatchee.” *** But stop! Besides good doctors and hospitals, why do people come to Wenatchee? The answer — sports: Boating, fishing, golfing, hiking, rock climbing, river rafting, skiing, swimming. “Mom,” my unbelieving daughter, who used to compete in AAU swim meets, said, “You? Sports? In 20 years vacationing at Lake Chelan Shores I never saw you in the pool. Reading books is your sport.” I pouted. “I’ll have you know I walk three miles a day. Five days a week. “And,” I continued, “I walk to my bank. Where I also go to my twice-a-month meetings of Wenatchee Valley Writer’s Group. To the library. To two shoe stores. You know I love shoes! To my attorney’s office. To a mail drop. “At first I could walk to the actual post office, and to several restaurants. To a delightful home décor store. Don’t you remember? Last Christmas you said it was like a fairy land. “And… how could I forget the Owl Soda Fountain where I get milkshakes served in a tall metal container that reminds me of my childhood? And, to get right down to
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Darlene Matule stretches against Ped, a bronze sculpture on the riverfront trail. Photo by Donna Cassidy
the nitty-gritty of life, to the Plaza Super Jet where I can and do buy everything from chilled wine to tomatoes. And Crackle Barrel Cheddar cheese, which no other store in town carries.” She acquiesced. I continued walking. Wenatchee Avenue is a living history lesson. I love history. In four blocks, six buildings have the date built cut in stone — from 1906 to 1921. Three have bronze plates designating their inclusion in the Register of Historic Places. Three more have oval history plaques. Personally I remember Mills Brother’s store (100-plus years in business) from 2006 when my husband rented a white tuxedo for our 50th wedding anniversary. Their service and quality of merchandise equaled that we’d experienced in Spokane and Tacoma. | The Good Life
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Everyone is friendly. I enjoy stopping and chatting with store owners on The Ave. At the pet store (even though I don’t have my dear Shadow dog any more). Two separate flooring stores. The Vietnamese restaurant (Tran has a compelling story). Davis Furniture (where master tile-layers were re-storing historic tiles). I greet friends having coffee at Mela’s outside tables. As I walk the pedestrian bridge, I see miles of empty oil rail tankers en route to The Bakken to refuel. And, once in a while, a jet plane in progress on its way from South Carolina to Everett. Exiting, I’ve watched a dump turn into the newly opened Hilton Garden Inn. Over to the right is the Pybus Public Market (which deserves an article of its own).
May 2020
For what seemed like weeks, I regularly met a man reading a book while walking. That’s right — reading and walking at the same time. When he quit appearing I wondered, Did he finish his book? Then, straight ahead, is one of my favorite sites — the Sculpture Garden. I climb up a cobblestone path. Pause to watch the majestic Columbia River. One day it’s a mirror — the next a mass of foaming, ocean-like waves. I breathe. Enjoy. Across the asphalt is the Wenatchee Riverfront Railway depot and a narrow track where kids enjoy a quarter-mile miniature train ride. Fun! For me, the Riverfront Walk begins here. Built by the PUD (Public Utility District), it is well-used. I see dozens of walkers. For what seemed like weeks, I regularly met a man reading a book while walking. That’s right — reading and walking at the same time. When he quit appearing I wondered, Did he finish his book? Some people, like me, walk alone. Others with dogs. I see walkers pushing strollers (some with babies — others with small dogs). Chatting walkers. Singing walkers. People who use walkers to toddlers who can hardly walk, holding their parents’ hands. Runners. Joggers. Events — from River Run on the Fourth to Thanksgiving’s Turkey on the Run. Skate boarders. Bikers. Riding everything from an old Schwinn to Dr. Farrar riding his handcycle. Occasionally a couple on a
bicycle made for two. *** I meet next-door neighbors. Old friends. I make new friends. Friends I greet almost daily but only know by their first name — Marian, Lillian, Luther, Ramon. Say “Hi.” Chat. Some whose name I don’t know, but whom I talk with often. The Waterman who, one day when the river was high, gave me a short history of what downtown looked like when the Columbia River flooded the city. The Old Man who collapsed, and I sat with on a park bench until help arrived. (Now his son walks with him.) I love the flower gardens. One — The Riverfront Xeriscape — is maintained by WSU Chelan/ Douglas County Extension Master Gardeners. It has 70 varieties of flowers and grasses designated as low water use. Each season produces a new display of color. Birds are everywhere. I’ve seen bald eagles and blue herons, robins and woodpeckers. Every spring a pair of ospreys mate and make a nest on a Douglas Fir-sized pole. It’s fun watching the babies learn how to fly. Mallard ducklings waddle 24 inches from my walking shoes. One May, for a week, I watched the mating dance of raccoons as they raced up and down the cottonwood trees that grew right by the pavement. Occasionally I’ve smelled proof that skunks were not far away. But never saw them. Thank goodness! *** I began walking five days a week while living in Chelan. In the spring of 2003. The Wenatchee Riverfront Walk expanded my life. The exercise feeds my body. The always-changing-movie I experience — combined with the peace I feel — enriches my soul. Starting April 1, I expanded my morning walk to three and a half miles. If you see me on the way, be sure and say, “Hi!”
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Where to retire? The search goes on 48 hours to figure out if Palm Springs checks off the ‘musts’ on the list
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By Kalin Raible
e are still on the hunt for a place to retire to in 15 – 20 years. Last year, we looked at Florida. This year we visited California. We are fortunate enough to have friends — Al and Ann Bridges from Wenatchee — who go to Palm Springs (technically Palm Desert) every year for about two months. After comparing calendars we were able to fit in a 48-hour trip mid-January. Our Working List for Retirement Requirements: n Sunshine. My wife, Mya Archamboult, would prefer to only wear flipflops after we retire. I like all four seasons so this will probably be our biggest challenge. n Be physically active. This seems to be a key component to enjoying life, continuing to travel, keeping up with family and friends and recovering from whatever ails us. n Quality healthcare. My parents opted to retire to Montana and one of them usually makes a trip to the ER each year. It’s about a 90 minute drive — 20 minutes with the helicopter but that is a story for another time. n Live in a similar manner to which we have become accustomed. n Not to outlive our retirement. n Stay engaged in our community via part-time work, volunteering or both. n Interesting enough place to live that it’s fun to have visitors. The trip to California was
Kalin has coffee on the sunny deck in Palm Desert — a place that certainly checks the list for sunshine.
amazing. Al and Ann rent a second floor condo with an awesome deck in the gated tennis community of Deep Canyon Tennis Complex. This was their sixth year there. VRBO has a listing at Deep Canyon Tennis Complex that looks similar for Jan. 1, 2021 Feb. 28, 2021 for $9,696.19. This is definitely more than Mya and I could afford right now but something to consider working towards. We arrived on the midnight flight and Al and Ann had arranged for a taxi to pick us up. It took a bit to get that sorted but eventually we were on our way. We got a ride in a taxi with Jose and we were glad to arrive at our destination because the taxi was running rough. I always enjoy arriving late night/early morning into a new town, driving (riding) with the windows down and enjoying the sleepi-
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ness/quiet of the new place as you look around at the quietest time of day. We got to the condos and (of course) didn’t get to bed until after 2 a.m. because we were catching up and drinking wine. Tuesday we got a late start since we had been up so late the night before. Mya was happy. She got to sit on the deck in the sun and listen to the sounds of pickleball being played across the street. It was delightful to see people older than us being physically active. Yes, there were knee and elbow braces but people were fit. A dozen tennis courts are on the property, with some courts converted to pickleball. Ann took us on a walking tour of the compound. This is definitely a goal for retirement: Physically active in warmer weather. Then we were off to explore the area. I can’t quite recall the order of the
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adventure so I will sum up. As Ann is an avid tennis player and tennis buff, we visited the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which hosts the Indian Wells Masters, aka BNP Paribas Open or WTA Indian Wells Open every year. Ann has volunteered in the past as an inexpensive way to access the event. Her husband, Al, got to enjoy the amenities while Ann took tickets at a couple different gates. Ann wasn’t convinced she got the best deal. After several rounds of discussion, it sounded like Ann’s volunteerism got Al the best deal. Next, we went to PGA West and had lunch on the patio at the clubhouse on the green. We definitely wanted to play. Mya and I didn’t play much golf last year because she had a cracked tibia, which took about eight months to heal. This visit re-
kindled our desire to play golf. After lunch, we were off to visit the Marriot Hotel Complex. What an amazing place! This place has its own lake, which is part of the lobby of the hotel. One can enter the lake inside the hotel and exit through a glass door out into the lake. We did take in the town of La Quinta and the Eisenhower Medical Center since Al (post heart procedure) has to check in once a week and has been spending some quality time there. Next we were off to the Palm Springs Art Museum and Sculpture Garden. The museum was closed but we did wander the sculpture garden. It was right next to an intersection but the designer had done a wonderful job with the design that muffled the sound of traffic and kept the garden welcoming and refreshing. Dinner Tuesday was at Al and Ann’s condo and once again we were up past midnight. We did discover the InstaCart app, which allowed us to order wine from one of the local grocery stores and get it delivered to the condo. Totally worth it. Wednesday was more adventure. We drove up to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. The visitor center was closed but we still got to enjoy the walking path and labeled vegetation. Next we visited the Eisenhower Thrift Store. They have a nice layout that is easy to navigate and several volunteers that are eager to assist. We found some great scarves and a Jura coffee maker. It was a late anniversary present to ourselves. The coffee maker ended up requiring servicing but overall we still came out ahead on the price. Next we were off to Sunnylands (of the Annenberg Foundation Trust) for lunch and a walking tour of the grounds. We watched a 20-minute video that talked about Sunnylands. A couple factoids we found inter-
esting: It is sometimes referred to as the White House West and it was where Nixon and his wife retreated to after his resignation. Next we visited the Palm Springs Air Museum. Mya and I are fans of aviation and this is a very well done museum with lots of aircraft. We had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and then we were off to Palm Springs International Airport. The airport is fantastic. If Wenatchee’s Pangborn Airport ever gets a refresh, the design team should visit the Palm Springs International Airport. The airport is very open and has a “Welcome to the Desert” kind of feel. We landed in Seattle and drove back home. In bed after 2 a.m.… again! To revisit the retirement checklist: n Sunshine — Yes, Palm Desert/Springs definitely has this. n Be physically active — Yes, Deep Canyon had this but there was Golfing available as well. n Quality healthcare — Yep, Eisenhower Center. n Interesting place to live – Yes, definitely checks this box. But I’m not so sure about the rest of the list: n Live in a similar manner to which we have become accustomed — Palm Desert/Springs seemed expensive to us given that a condo similar to the one our hosts rent is about $4,750 per month. Although more quick research reveals that other places are available for about $2,500 per month. We didn’t go into a grocery store so more research is required n Not to outlive our retirement — we need to make a LOT more dollars now to afford to live in Palm Springs year round given our current mortgage payment is $1,300 per month. n Stay engaged in our community via part-time work, volunteering or both. We didn’t explore this much at all so we need to visit Palm Desert/ Springs again for more research. May 2020 | The Good Life
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Don’t crush it, it has good bones! Editor’s note: We received two stories this month about local couples who vacationing in the southland found remodeling projects they just couldn’t keep their idle hands off of. Here’s the first story from Kelly Rollen about redoing a tired trailer. On page 20, Lief Carlsen writes about remodeling an abandoned company-town house.
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By Kelly Rollen
n April 2017, my husband, Roger and I sold our Wenatchee home and moved to Chelan so I could help care take my mother.
Roger is generally furloughed from his job as a foreman for a local heavy construction company for the winters and Mom was doing well that late fall, so we decided to spend the winter road tripping in our new RV. We stopped when we hit Yuma, Arizona. Roger had spent three years stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station in the early ’80s and had always liked it. It was sunny and warm and that was good enough for me.
Exterior before and after: “We bought ‘that property’ — the cheapest place in the best neighborhood,” said Kelly. “Needless to say, our neighbors are thrilled with our work!”
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The Rollens spent the most money on the bathroom — all new plumbing, fixtures and tiled tub surround.
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The saga as told on Facebook
ABOVE: Three groups of visitors stayed in the little finished guesthouse this winter and all absolutely loved it, said Kelly. LEFT: Here Roger and Kelly are at the all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. “I booked it to get us the heck away from that project and get a huge attitude adjustment. Worked like a charm,� reported Kelly. May 2020 | The Good Life
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Living room before and after: Keeping as much natural light and open feeling were goals with this whole project.
AT LEFT: “During demolition we tried to not disturb the existing walls/paneling anymore than necessary as our skills here are not strong,” said Kelly. “We had a bit of patching, then troweled on two coats of sheet rock mud, sprayed two coats of interior paint, crossed our fingers and said a little prayer!”
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Don’t crush it
At this point we were high-fiving each other and proclaiming we should totally be finished by Christmas no problem. NOT.
}}} Continued from page 16 We spent the winter hiking the desert and checking out the Southwestern border town. The day we left to head back home in February, we signed papers to purchase an abandoned city lot with a 40-foot 1977 Santa Fe park model trailer on it. My husbands first words were, “I can have that thing crushed with an excavator and in a 15 yard dumpster in 20 minutes.” “Nooooooo!” I screeched. “It has good bones ...” Two winters later, our marriage somehow survived a DIY remodel project that neither one of us had a clue about. Ignorance is truly bliss my friends. No, no I did not keep track of what we actually spent, as I’m not sure our marriage would survive that truth. That said, we are really proud of our little ’77 Santa Fe. Here’s how we got the project done. That first summer when we were back home, I determined I had just a few short months to convince Roger it was possible to rehab an old trailer — an old house? Sure, but a trailer? We returned to Yuma just before Thanksgiving and immediately started demolition of the interior. We didn’t have any experience or real plan, just my vague vision of a retro-style studio guest house. It was super dated, dark and cramped inside, so we just started peeling back the layers and opening up the interior. A few days later and many trips to the dump, we had removed everything except the bathroom walls, the bedroom closet and a cupboard in the living room. At this point we were high-fiving each other and proclaiming we should totally be finished by
The bedroom and living room have actual tip outs, not slide outs, so it was chosen to frame them in to make them look less odd.
Christmas no problem. NOT. By the first of the year, we were completely overwhelmed and frozen with indecision, so I did what any smart wife does and booked a quick trip to Puerto Vallarta for some sun and fun. Upon return, we tackled our first big hurdle we had uncovered, which were the wheel wells that stuck up through the floor, as technically, the trailer has to remain movable. We ended up framing them in and creating a base for a smaller size refrigerator and a bench in the hallway. Next hurdle was the kitchen. For the life of us, we could not figure out a kitchen configuration using cabinets, then I stumbled on a very simple freeMay 2020 | The Good Life
standing kitchen unit complete with sink and faucet for $136 bucks from IKEA. Sold! Thirdly, once we accepted that Yuma sits just eight miles from the Mexico border and there are many tradesmen willing to work side jobs, suddenly our plumbing, tile work and floor-
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ing dilemmas became much less troublesome. Turns out, money really can buy you marital security sometimes! This December, Roger got the exterior painted with our third Wagoner spray gun (don’t ask about the first two) and I ran around buying every rattle can of “hammered brown spray paint” I could find in Yuma and got the super cute aluminum window awnings painted and we hired the local brick mason and had a large Mexican brick patio put in. I had spent our road trip down taking advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales on my iPhone ordering all the furnishings and fun stuff. Packages started arriving the day we got to Yuma and didn’t stop for a few weeks! When it was all unpackaged, assembled and placed in all its cuteness, Roger turned and looked at me and said: “I finally get it, I see your vision, honey.” Better late than never, right?!
Mary Carlsen bicycles up to a vacant home In Ajo, Arizona. A project house for sure, but it does have a fenced yard.
Vanquishing the restlessness By Lief Carlsen
This is not a story about a
magnificent new house with gorgeous views and impressive landscaping — you know, the kind The Good Life regularly features. It centers around a house, to be sure, but the house is more of a backdrop than the central character of it. It’s a story about how two people (my wife and I) went about making the most of one winter of our lives; it’s about our ongoing pursuit of the good life. We’re retired. We like being retired. But we’re not the kind of people who can sit around and do the same old thing day after day. We have an RV. We’ve been wintering in Arizona for the last seven years, living in our cur-
Mary paints the kitchen. The finished job is below.
rent RV for the last two winters and its predecessor for the five winters before that. We look forward to escaping the icy weather of north central Washington every January. I still get a rush every year on our annual migration south when we cross the Siskiyou Pass and descend to the balmy lower elevations of California. From there we move on to Quartzsite, Arizona where thousands of “snowbirds” like us gather in the desert for the giant annual RV show. For about two weeks I’m content to ride my bicycle and hike through the cactus-strewn landscape. But then I get restless. I start looking for new diversions. One winter, I hiked a large section of the Arizona Trail. Another winter I worked on my German conversation skills by
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Before and after photos of the bathroom — just behind the shower enclosure wall was an active beehive.
meeting regularly with a German exchange student at the University of Arizona. These activities helped staved off boredom — but just. I was always on the prowl for something more. I kept my eyes open for part-time employment but nothing seemed like a good fit. We have visited the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona several times on our winter sojourns. We’ve had some enjoyable bike rides there. Nearby is the small town of Ajo. Ajo, once upon a time, was home to the giant New Cornelia copper mine. When the mine closed in 1984, hundreds of houses that had housed New Cornelia miners and their families became vacant. Some of them still are. Many of them are for sale — cheap.
Putting two and two together, we realized a golden opportunity was presenting itself. Here were the ingredients of a solution to our restlessness: warm winter climate + cheap (if somewhat dilapidated) houses + time on our hands + restlessness = ideal project! And so this year so we bought as a fixer-upper a two-bedroom, one-bath house that was built in 1948. Total cost: $24,000. As you would expect, it was no mansion. No one had lived in it for years. The lot was weedstrewn, the exterior paint was peeling, the interior was graffitied, the bathroom was execrable. On the plus side, New Cornelia had built their houses well. The roof, plumbing, wiring and foundation were all solid. Rubbing our hands together May 2020 | The Good Life
Supply runs
There was limited availability of
building supplies in Ajo. There is a small hardware store about a mile away from our house to which I pedaled innumerable times on my bicycle for small items. Major purchases required an all-day trip to Phoenix and since our only vehicle was our motorhome and a small cargo trailer, we usually had items stacked in the motorhome’s aisle. Lumber and tile are heavy and our poor little trailer probably exceeded it’s recommended gross weight on several occasions. — Lief Carlsen in anticipation, we got right to work. I’m no professional, but I have www.ncwgoodlife.com
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acquired a few building skills over the years. Our first objective was to clear the weeds and trash from the yard. Next, we ripped out the dingy carpeting and the rusted water heater among other unwanted remnants of the former residents. Soon we had a towering pile of trash in the yard, which we hired a local guy to haul to the town dump. New windows and doors came next. Then I set to work on that bathroom. After ripping out a fiberglass shower enclosure I discovered an active beehive in the wall — complete with several quarts of honey. I know honeybees are having a hard time these days but they had to go! And what is that tar-like glue
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Vanquishing the restlessness }}} Continued from previous page they used to adhere linoleum to the subfloor back then? That stuff took several brands of solvent and a lot of sweat to remove. It took a couple of weeks, but the bathroom came together nicely. Mary was in charge of the painting — and a good thing she was. Since we kept most of the original wood trim, she had a lot of refinishing to do. Seventy-two years of being lived in had left their marks on the house. Showing infinite patience, Mary filled voids and cracks in the walls and trim and applied coat after coat of paint and primer until the old house took on a fresh new look. In place of the dingy carpet The backyard before and after: Lief wheeled a wheelbarrow a quarte mile to collect the rock for the retaining walls.
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and faded linoleum, I installed tile floors throughout the house. Something had to be done with the backyard. The house was built on a slope and the slope ended at the back door. I would have loved to bring in an excavator and several dump truck loads of rock to reconfigure the back yard but we were operating on a limited budget and, as Mary reminded me, “What else do you have to do?” — so I opted for a wheelbarrow, a shovel and a pick and got to work. The rock I needed for my retaining walls was a quarter mile away in a dry wash. Sweating, groaning, and reminding myself that, after all, I had wanted a project to keep busy, I wheeled about 30 loads from the wash to our backyard and reshaped the former slope into a usable space. Over the years, the brutal Arizona sun had reduced the wood siding at the rear of the house to a frail remnant of its original consistency so I built a veranda to shade it. After six weeks of non-stop effort, we decided to save stuccoing the exterior and some of the landscaping for next winter’s project. Catching our breath, we assessed our progress. Without furniture, the house sounded like an echo chamber inside but it was a world apart from what it had been. We were very proud of ourselves. Best of all, we had thoroughly enjoyed the process. We had taken a dilapidated old house and reworked it into something pleasing to the eye. We had worked as a team to get the job done. Boredom had never crossed our minds. When the job is finally completed we don’t know if we will use the house or sell it but that is beside the point because we achieved our original objective — we had vanquished the restlessness; we had lived the good life.
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>>
column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR
jim brown, m.d.
Happiness during time of a pandemic I
t seems strange to be writing this article in late March 2020 during the worst pandemic in most of our lifetimes. Like many of you, I have sometimes been emotionally down and feel like my world has changed possibly forever. In order to deal with my feelings, I have been trying to focus on my many blessings and remembering some of the happiest times that have filled my life. This is something each of us can do. It might even be worth keeping a journal of these memories. We know what happiness means, but we may not be sure what causes it. I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject but would like to share some thoughts and other information on this topic of happiness. You may have experienced or been told by parents about a baby that seemed happy from day one. As long as its needs were met, the baby exuded happiness and joy, smiling readily and making everyone around smile, too. Is there a “happy” gene? A Stanford study some time ago suggested that genetics might play a role in depression, so why not for happiness? A twin study in Minnesota published in NeuroScience in 2012, suggested that there might be a genetic role in causing higher levels of life satisfaction or happiness. The study concluded that about 50 percent of higher life satisfaction comes from genetics. Of course there are other factors. Happy babies are easier to relate to and may evoke more loving responses. We know that active brain chemicals (endorphins, dopamine, serotonin) are released
during moments of positive emotions. These are sometimes called the “feel good” chemicals. They reduce pain, increase appetite and are happiness boosters. On the other hand, life satisfaction or happiness has more to do with other humans than most of us realize. Having a feeling of self-acceptance while treating others with compassion leads to a happier life. Lester Holt, NBC newscaster, has been chosen as the most popular newscaster in America. I think that relates to his warm personality and his thoughtful manner, but also how he ends his nightly newscast. He always ends with an uplifting, warm, human-interest story that touches our feelings at a deeper level. As far back as Aristotle, people have been trying to discover keys to happiness. Aristotle, one of the greatest thinkers in history said, “Happiness depends on ourselves more than anyone else.” He also said that happiness should be a central purpose of our lives. He suggested that it is a result of virtue. When asked about happiness, Eleanor Roosevelt said, “It required being honest with yourself and those around you, feeling you have done the best you could in your life to have the ability to love others.” Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 29 and brought worldwide attention to this disease. He has succeeded despite the disease. He said, “My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance and inversely to expectations.” In other words, he accepted his condition and went on with his life. Viktor Frankl survived hor-
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rific conditions in a WWII Nazi concentration camp, and later wrote his book on Man’s Search for Meaning. While he didn’t mention happiness specifically, he was very concerned with satisfaction and fulfillment in life. His book mentions brief moments of love and caring even in the worst of circumstances. As I started thinking of the happiest times in my life, the more I remembered, the better I felt. I decided I have the power to choose. I can dwell on this difficult and depressing pandemic in which I am in the “elder” age of greatest risk, or I can think of positive things where I have been blessed in this life. The first thing that came to mind was the day Lynn said, “I do take this man to be my husband.” After our first date in college when she was a sophomore and I was a senior, I knew she was a girl I would gladly spend the rest of my life with. Even though we were separated for two years when I was in Chicago at medical school, she still said “yes” when I asked her to marry me. Now, after nearly 58 years of marriage, I love her even more today. My second happiest memory was the day I graduated from Northwestern Medical School. It wasn’t just getting the degree that made me happy. It was seeing my parents watching me with great pride. Neither of them had gone beyond high school. They lived very modestly with few material possessions, but they gave me unconditional love and their sacrifice so I might achieve my goals. Finally, the next happy memories have to do with family, which is more important than anything else in my life. Having
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three wonderful children, Steve, Dave and Kirsten, is without a doubt Lynn’s and my greatest achievement. As an only child myself, I enjoyed (and was sometimes challenged by) the noisy banter and joking and occasional chaos. Several years later we added another person to our family. Chantrea Long was a Cambodian refugee I had met in a Thai refugee camp on the Thai border with Vietnam. He was in our home only nine months, but it was long enough for Chantrea and me to bond. He left to be with the Cambodian girl he hoped to marry who was in Boston. They did marry and moved to Maryland where they both found jobs. I visited them a few years later. As the three of us went walking in the Washington D.C. mall with Vanna’s arm linked with mine and the other with Chantrea, she said, “Jim, men where I work think I am cold and unfriendly.” I expressed surprise since she was so warm and welcoming to me. She said, “In our country, women aren’t supposed to talk to men not in our family, but Jim, you are family.” Happy memories for sure. Despite all the uncertainty with this pandemic, I know that somehow most of us will survive and will never forget. Stay positive as much as you can and remember happy times. Jim Brown, M.D., is a retired gastroenterologist who has practiced for 38 years in the Wenatchee area. He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.
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column moving up to the good life
june darling
Find your gifts to share with the world “The purpose of life is to discover your gift; the work of life is to develop it; and the meaning of life is to give your gift away.” — David Viscott (psychiatrist, author, media personality)
T
hough David Viscott is given credit for the quote above many people have said something similar dating back at least to Shakespeare. In the last couple of decades, due to vigorous nudging from performance coaches and highprofile psychologists, the quote is finally being taken seriously. Today the idea in the quote might be expressed less poetically, in a bit more scientificsounding way. “To live a full and meaningful life, figure out your strengths, learn how to use them well, then wield them to make the world a better place.” Indeed, the science does seem to support the idea that we perform better, are happier, age better, and are healthier if we optimally use our strengths. Many systems, questionnaires, books, definitions, coaching and interview protocols have sprung up particularly to help us identify our own and others’ strengths. They can be somewhat useful. With a few exceptions, however, I have found these strength finders to be cumbersome, unenlightening, not to mention, no fun. Before going any further, let’s get on the same page about what strengths are. For our purposes, strengths include all the attributes that we (and often others too) think are cool — certain personality traits, specific talents and gifts that seem in-born, useful things we have learned to do with our brains and bodies that we may refer to as our skills.
Strengths even include our character traits and “virtues” like being compassionate toward the suffering. We can spot these strengths everywhere, including in the physical domain, the intellectual or cognitive domain, the psychological domain, the emotional domain; and in the interpersonal, environmental, and spiritual domain. To simplify all that, here are two easy questions to help you identify your strengths. Question one: What’s good about you? Think about the compliments you have received that really resonated with you. Your generosity, your kindness, your willingness to help or lead a project, your cheerfulness, your love of reading, your humor, your stimulating conversation, your loyalty, your love of animals and nature — consider it all. You can eventually think about what you are good at (rather than what’s good about you). Asking what are you good at (which usually gets at your skills) first, seems to block identifying many other, more widely focused strengths. One thing I do, when I am searching around for an answer to that question of what’s good about me, is to drag out old birthday and thank you cards or letters (sure, I keep these cards if they seem sincere and on target). In fact, I am looking at a card from last year right now. The person took the time and effort to really think about my good attributes. She lists what she is thankful for in me as a friend. Also, there’s nothing stopping you from straight out asking your family and friends, “What’s good about me?” They might need some think time (we all May 2020 | The Good Life
Also, there’s nothing stopping you from straight out asking your family and friends, “What’s good about me?” are usually focused on what’s wrong) so send an email. Tell them it might seem weird to ask, but it’s some homework you’ve been given to complete. Question two: What energizes you? Do you feel yourself perk up if someone mentions a good book, wants you to go on a hike, asks you to teach a class, talks about a trip, encourages you to volunteer to help serve meals? You may have a love of learning, a strength of curiosity, a bent toward service to others, which undergirds that energy. My husband, John, gets energized, believe it or not, by the whole adventure of thinking about what supplies we need, going to Costco, bringing home the loot, and re-stocking. Just say the word, “Costco” and his eyes light up. I call the strength that fuels that energy, the skill of “quarter-mastering.” I have no worry, like many others, that we will run out of toilet paper during the corona crisis. I am most thankful for that quarter-mastering in him. You can browse through many lists of positive traits and strengths to get your brain attuned to catching and naming what’s good in yourself and others. Feel free to be creative and totally make up your own labels for positive traits that you spot. When our 12-year old granddaughter, Sierra, was two, she www.ncwgoodlife.com
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completed her first puzzle. It was very hard for her. Afterwards Sierra stood up and hopped around for a couple of minutes. Then she tore the puzzle up, completed it again, and resumed hopping. Sierra still gets excited by achieving something challenging. We might label her strength “juicy challenge.” A strengths-expert once told me that he had the strength of “spot-lighting.” When I asked more about what that was, he explained that he was energized and did his best in front of a group — when the spot-light was on him. For useful, good fun during the month of May, look for your own and others’ strengths. Capture them with a name. If you get off track, remember all those strengths’ benefits. Use those two questions about what’s good about you and what energizes you to guide back your attention. Be ready for strengths talk, part 2, coming up in the June edition of The Good Life. You’ll find out about an unusual way to identify your strengths. Most importantly, you’ll learn more about how to optimally use your strengths so that they don’t backfire or fizzle. You’ll be set to graciously give your gifts away. How might you use May to move up to The Good Life by discovering your gifts? 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.
PET tales
Tells us a story about your pet. Submit pet & owner pictures to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com
W
hen Riley, right, arrived at the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society shelter, he needed medical care for his severely damaged eye. The medical team there had to remove his eye and found a few other health issues. They also found that Riley is a wonderful Golden Retriever eightyear-old. Sometimes it is hard to find adopters for older dogs, especially with health issues. The Platts family drove a long distance to meet Riley and it was love at first sight. Their Golden Retriever girl loved him, too.
After spending eight months in the shelter, senior dog, Remmy
finally found his forever family with the Martinez family.
Know 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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Walking the wild side with pen and camera, a life-long naturalist turns
his world into art K
Story by Susan Lagsdin Photos by Mike Irwin
eith Warrick, 82, has explored and hiked for most of his life, recording with camera and sketch pad the scenes in nature that serve his prolific artistry. Though his eyesight is tricky at times, he keeps doing what he does best — painting and carving wildlife, as well as an assortment of hunting dogs that includes his own beagle. The confirmed conservationist has turned his latest base camp six miles south of Plain into a three-story log home, art studio and woodshop. He especially treasures his Wenatchee River frontage and close-by hiking trails that get him and his dog Bo into steep timber in minutes. Inside, the kitchen becomes a perfect place to paint when he turns on the LED lights and lifts his boxes of gear onto the island counter. “I can do a painting in a day right here, or I can take a month. And yes,” he grinned, “You’d know the difference.” The basement is fitted with
Keith Warrick’s art extends way beyond acrylic paintings and graphics. He makes hand-carved, hobby-themed walking sticks like these and sells by the dozens those with popular sport teams’ mascots at the top.
Commercial graphics, as seen on this Alaska poster, were a mainstay of Keith’s career for years; he even traveled to Norway 15 times to help promote that country’s ski areas with his art.
250 linear feet of shelving and holds labeled stacks of found and purchased wood and heavy saws, planes and grinders. But in good weather, Keith said, “The front porch is where I do a lot of my carving with hand
}}} Continued on next page
An original enhancement on many of Keith’s most-sought-after works is a carved wooden image of the painting’s subject, affixed to the wooden frame. These each measure about three by four inches and are almost as detailed as the painting itself.
May 2020 | The Good Life
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Years of exploring nature with his journal always at the ready allowed Keith to make scientifically accurate illustrations and paintings on his return. This typical double-page spread in one book shows his sketches and hand printed notes are works of art in themselves.
TURNING HIS WORLD INTO ART }}} Continued from previous page tools.” He didn’t know Plain would become the home of his heart. Shortly after his wife’s death, he moved from Lake Stevens to this part of central Washington where he’d hunted and fished since his teens. He says he no longer hunts; he’s given it up for more life-affirming pursuits. “I just wanted to settle in an area I loved, spend a few years fixing the place up,” Keith said. “And I’m still at it after 16 years — with no regrets.” Rows of reference books and
boxes of notebooks, sketches and photographs are already filled with good ideas, and collections displayed on the shelves and walls offer their own inspiration. He even finds time for invention. His latest twist on woodcarving is mascot-themed walking sticks, particularly ones featuring Seahawks, Ducks, Cougars and Huskies. “I can’t make ’em fast enough. It seems like anyone who sees one wants one,” he said. What’s next? He’s thinking of carving replicas of vintage rifles.
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“I’ve got some Danish dueling pistols, an early Kentucky rifle, a 1939 Luger — I figure I can use them as models, “ he said. “There’s probably a market for them with collectors…” Keith can’t remember precisely the first time he sold his art. “As a kid, I designed and built stuff all the time. When I was 15, I restored this car — and I think the guy who bought it liked the painting and striping as much as anything.” His high school yearbook predicted a career at General Motors. But Keith went a different direction. After course work at Everett Community College and Edison Tech and a B.A. in art from the University of Washington, he turned his attention to commer-
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cial art. Supported first by a sign painting job and then 10 years illustrating at Boeing, with the help of mentors he also honed his skills painting wildlife. Always an outdoorsman, he became especially adept at waterfowl. “I’ve painted so many species of birds over the years, I don’t need to do any research anymore, or even look at photographs,” Keith said. “It seems like now my hand and brush know just how to make the right color, the right texture of feathers…” In 1970, Keith left Boeing to open his own well-staffed and equipped commercial shop, KW Design. “That was scary but rewarding,” he said, “devoting
fun stuff what to do around here for the next month
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.
Travel to wilderness locales yielded Keith photographic images he turned into award-winning nature paintings like this one. Many readers in the region can relate to this flock of geese seeking calm waters.
For 15 years, Keith traveled to Norway to make promotional paintings for ski areas. “This is how I saw myself at one locale,” he said of the man building a fire while camped in the wilderness. May 2020 | The Good Life
myself full time to my own art business.” At its height, the venture meant a secure setting for him and wife Glenna and two children and also some world travel (i.e. Norway, New Caledonia, Japan) and national accounts. Many of his personal projects were wildlife and landscape illustrations in dozens of journals, magazines and manuals, from Cabela’s catalogue covers to survival guides to Fishing and Hunting News and Audubon. During this time, Keith’s love of the outdoors combined with fine-point artistry brought him another variety of success. From 1980 to 1988 he won or placed near the top in prestigious stamp competitions with his paintings of coho and humpie salmon, quail and mallards. Ducks Unlimited commissioned three different wine labels from him, as well as three metal belt buckle designs, and he was named the group’s Artist of the Year four times in a row. Keith also contributed his art to other favorite causes. The American Cancer Foundation was one, but as a passionate naturalist and well-acquainted with wilderness, he was glad to support groups championing the conservation of turkey, mule deer, trout, pheasant, sage grouse and Rocky Mountain elk habitat. In his most prolific years, with his paintings eventually exhibited in 18 galleries and with sales worldwide, Keith calculates he also made 77,000 prints for Ducks Unlimited alone and sent $1.5 million their way. www.ncwgoodlife.com
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“I‘m 75 percent retired, but it seems I’m busier than ever before.” The sponsors of major fundraisers knew what people wanted. “They’d offer me a few hundred bucks to cover costs,” he said, “And then one of those paintings might bring them from $2,000 to $3,000 at auction.” Then, at what he calls the height of interest in Western art, Keith deliberately bypassed the fast lane in art production — new marketing, new technology — when he first received tempting invitations from publishers. He said, “I made a conscious decision to stay small and conservative.” And he stayed successful, only quasi-quitting the business when he moved to Plain in 2005. “I‘m 75 percent retired,” Keith said, “but it seems I’m busier than ever before in my life.” Whether painting or carving, he loves especially the first design sketches and the first cutting away of excess wood. “It’s fun and fast,” he said. “But the last tiny detailing and the final sanding needs to be really slow and careful; it takes the most time.” And that is something Keith respects. He’s been painting and carving for 45 years. “All I really need now,” he said, “is time to create new art.” For more information on his art, you may email Keith at kwdesignseattle@gmail.com.
The Art Life
// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS
Wenatchee author has aspirations, attitude and at last — Asperfell W
By Susan Lagsdin
enatchee teacher and author Jamie Thomas is a worldbuilder. When she writes fiction, she first envisions the setting, not one on our present earth but one made of her imagination, a retreat from reality that is sometimes terrifying, occasionally idyllic, always unusual. That’s her claim to fame in Asperfell. Available since February, this gothic fantasy is Jamie’s first published novel, and her editor and her readers enjoy the place (a vast mysterious prison complex for magicians), the premise and the plot so much that she’s contracted to complete a trilogy over the next two years. With a reading preference for Jane Austen, Victorian poetry, fantasy fiction, and gothic romance and horror novels, as well as a family affinity for Irish legends, Jamie is in her natural element as she crafts her books. She said, “My natural writing voice is really 19th century classical, kind of old-fashioned.” She’d been encouraged in her writing as a teen, and over the years had attempted a few other novels. “I have some starts in my files,” she said. “But Asperfell was exactly the story I wanted to write, when I wanted to write it.” A reading of her first draft got an encouraging thumbs-up. Jamie, at 38 a certified novice at researching publishing possibilities, was picked up in January 2019 by a bold young com-
pany, Uproar, through a Twitter plot-pitching session. The next months were a blur of constant structural re-writes. “My editor, Rich, is so good,” she said. “He praised me for airtight plotting, and he then worked hard on improving continuity and pace; I know he’s read the whole book 12 times.” (Some gee whiz stats: her first draft was 120,000 words and grew to 133,000. The second and third books will be about 140,000 words each. This article is 805 words.) Without her knowledge, Rich had submitted the newly minted novel to Publisher’s Weekly, the gold standard in the book marketing industry, and it achieved a coveted star review (“a novel of outstanding quality”). She remembers, “I was teaching a class when I got his phone call, and at the break I had to go have a little private happy cry over that one.” Jamie says it’s her methodical approach to plotting and an ability to see the big picture of the Asperfell world that made the development of a trilogy a natural choice. “I always outline first; I don’t leave a ton to chance,” she said. The inequities she sees in contemporary society first propelled her to write. “The idea of this series was kicking around for months,” she said of the theme and her main character, Briony. “Using what you have to fight tyranny and injustice. Women finding the power in their own voices.”
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Jamie Thomas and her daughter Jocelyn take a break from at-home schooling, and at-home writing, in the yard of their Wenatchee home. Jamie holds a copy of her well-reviewed debut novel. Photo by Brian Thomas
“I was teaching a class when I got his phone call, and at the break I had to go have a little private happy cry over that one.” Voice is important to Jamie. It means standing up for her own strong convictions. It means using language that creates a tonal world in fiction. And, ironically, voice was what she assumed would be her sustaining art form. Vocal performance was Jamie’s
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foremost ambition growing up in Wenatchee, and she left town to earn music degrees from the University of Montana and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. An opera career dimmed with the addition of marriage, money jobs, career jobs, a baby, the realities of daily life. And that’s actually good news — after a Chelan P.U.D. job opened up for her husband Brian in 2016, the couple were happy to move back to Wenatchee, still her parents’ home. That’s when a chance opportunity to substitute teach lead Jamie to a new life-sustaining passion: “I loved being in the classroom with kids so much that I went back for a master’s degree in
teaching English,” she said. Jamie admitted, “My parents begged me to major in English, but being 17 and a prima donna I refused to listen. It took 20 years — sorry Mom and Dad — but I ended up right where I belonged, doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.” Jamie doesn’t downplay the stresses of juggling full time teaching in the Orondo School District and writing novels. She realizes there’s a sweet spot in an author’s career where producing and staying in the public eye is paramount, but she’s fully prepared to continue doing both. She declared, “My middle school students are wonderful — I’d never want to give them up.” She’ll continue to grab a few hours to write at night and on the weekends, creating and finetuning her alternate worlds. “I’m usually exhausted and not in an ideal headspace, so I write very
slowly.” But some days, she said, “When something I envision and meticulously plan is executed perfectly on the page… everything weaves together seamlessly. It’s such a joy to read, and an even greater joy to write.” For more about the world of Asperfell and where to find it, go to www. thatjamiethomas.com.
What Are You Laughing At? We’re looking for fresh, true stories from local people that’ll bring a chuckle to our readers.
Limit yourself to 500 to 1,000 words and send to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com
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Big birds hold special place in our hearts
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They Built This City: NEW DOWNTOWN IS FlOOR kING’S lASTING lEGACy
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column those were the days
rod molzahn
‘Once I built a railroad’ J.J. Hill and the Great Northern
In the late 1860s, Jim Hill was
a $75 a month freight clerk for a warehouse along the Mississippi River at St. Paul, Minnesota. William Kahlow, 1890 settler in the Okanogan Valley, knew Jim Hill as the fastest receiving clerk on the Mississippi. The job involved directing the wharfmen unloading freight from the riverboats to the proper space in the warehouse for each consignee. Kahlow recalled competitions between Jim Hill and other freight clerks. Jim Hill always won. “If they bet on Jim Hill they didn’t lose their wagers.” Jim Hill had lost an eye to a childhood accident but that didn’t slow down his work or his ambitions. It was during those years that freight clerk Jim Hill met Mississippi riverboat captain Alexander Griggs. The two men formed a friendship that would last as long as their lives. Hill knew how to move freight and Griggs knew riverboats. Captain Griggs thought there was money to be made hauling freight on the Red River of Minnesota. In 1872 he convinced his friend, Jim Hill, to invest with him to build a riverboat to ply the Red River. The Selkirk cost $22,000 to build but paid for itself in the first year of operation. That changed Jim Hill’s life. No longer a freight clerk, he added a middle initial to his name and became James J. Hill, shipping magnate. He soon concluded that the future of shipping was not in riverboats but in railroads. In 1873, Hill took his substantial profits from the Red River
Jim Hill became J.J. Hill, the king of the The Great Northern railroad. Photo courtesy Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center 75-49-155
Transportation Co. and bought controlling interest in the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. There was a national financial panic and the railroad was in trouble. Hill paid 25 cents a share for the stock. He immediately began expanding his line west to reach more towns and more population. Hill demanded much from his crews. He expected a mile and a half of new track each day. As the line grew the stock value grew with it. It was estimated that James J. Hill made two million dollars in the next few years as he added other lines to his holdings.
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In 1879 he announced, “I’m going to push a line to Puget Sound.” People called it, “Hill’s Folly.” Ten years later most of Hill’s lines lost their individual names and, together became the Great Northern Railroad. The push west accelerated as Hill exhorted his crews to “lay more track.” Out of Minnesota and on to the flat plains of the Dakotas, Great Northern track laying crews ate up the miles. Sally Carriker, a Hill family friend, recalled, “Hill was always a superman. Without much cash, he just kept those rails rolling along. Out on the level
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prairie he never even waited to ballast the roadbed. Right on top of the ground his workmen laid ties and stretched the rails over them, mile after mile.” With every new town reached there was more freight to haul. The more freight, the more income for the Great Northern. With more money, available crews were sent back to ballast the track beds. J.J. Hill was a strong supporter of the economies of the towns his tracks reached. He gave financial backing to community projects that would benefit the local economy. In Wenatchee, Hill backed several projects including building the trestle across the Wenatchee River to bring the Gunn/Shotwell irrigation ditch to the Wenatchee Flat. What was good for the towns was good for the Great Northern. J.J. Hill’s track crews loved and respected him. He was as strong and tough as any of them and he loved them right back. Lee Howard, a track crewman in the Dakotas, described a visit by Hill. “During a sizeable blizzard Hill came in his special car to where a crew was trying to clear the line. He didn’t stay inside that car. He jumped out, grabbed my shovel and started heaving snow furiously. ‘Go back to my car and get hot coffee,’ he told me. I did and rested there a while. Hill spelled first one and then another of us that day.” The rapid pace of track laying continued through eastern Montana then slowed to a crawl in the face of the Rocky Mountains. Hill was up to the challenge.
In December of 1889 he sent John F. Stevens, a young engineer, to the northern Rockies to locate a low pass talked about in Blackfoot Indian legend. In a 40 degree below zero blizzard, Stevens climbed up into darkness, eventually coming into a small flat where he walked until dawn in circles to avoid freezing to death. In the light he found himself at the summit of Marias Pass, the sought after northern Rockies route for the Great Northern Railroad. With that barrier breached, the road-building pace quickened through northern Idaho to Spokane. John Stevens was sent west to find a pass through the north Cascades. With the arrival of Great Northern tracks in Spokane an upheaval of speculation arose around the likely route west from there. Where would it cross the Big Bend? Where would it cross the Columbia and where would it cross the Cascades? And most important, what towns would benefit? Some thought it would go through Waterville. Some thought it would pass through Yakima and over Snoqualmie Pass. Others thought Lt. Henry Pierce’s 1882 expedition had located a rail route up the Methow Valley and over a pass at the head of the Twisp River or maybe Hart’s Pass in the upper Methow. Dr. J.B. Smith, founder of Orondo, believed the tracks would cross the Big Bend then follow a route down to the Columbia. From there it would pass through Orondo and follow the left bank of the Columbia north to a point opposite Chelan Falls. There it would cross the Columbia, climb to Lake Chelan and follow a route along the north shore of the lake to Stehekin and over the Cascades from there. Only the Spokane Chronicle got it right. The route would be south
of the Big Bend and reach the Columbia below Rock Island Rapids then follow the left bank to a crossing of the Columbia below Wenatchee then up the Wenatchee River to the mountains. This route was made possible when John Stevens, in the summer of 1890, located the north Cascade pass that bears his name. The rails reached Wenatchee on Oct. 17, 1892. A commemorative silver spike was driven where the tracks crossed Orondo Avenue. The spike was set by
Wenatchee’s two oldest homesteaders — Philip Miller living at the south end of Miller Street, below Saddle Rock, and Sam Miller, founder of the Miller/Freer Trading Post at the Wenatchee/Columbia confluence. James J. Hill built his railroad out of pocket with no federal aid. The other western railroads, Union Pacific, Central Pacific and Northern Pacific all received millions of acres of federal land grants that could be sold to finance the railroad construction. The Great Northern, built on
the back of J.J. Hill’s determination, was the only one of the big four railroads to survive the financial panic of 1893. The Great Northern had no debts. J.J. Hill took advantage of the situation to buy Northern Pacific stock at depressed prices and greatly expand his track holdings. 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.
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We are thinking of our friends, family, customers and community during this difficult time. Currently we are following the state mandate of non-essential business. When the mandate is lifted, we will be ready to go! Please feel free to call us for any upcoming home improvement projects! Stay Home Stay Safe Kathy Z. Smithson
• Life • Vision • Dental • Medicare Planning • Medicare PDP Rx • Individual Health Insurance • Exchange Plans • Group Benefit Packages
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720 Valley Mall Pkway E. Wenatchee smithsoninsuranceservices@gmail.com May 2020 | The Good Life
• Custom Homes • Outdoor Living • Remodels • Decks 30 years Experience 509-668-6747
509-668-6747
Knutsonbuilders@yahoo.com Robb Knutson. Owner-General Contractor WA Lic.#KNUTSB*821QE
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Knutsonbuilders@yahoo.com Robb Knutson Owner-General Contractor WA Lic.#KNUTSB*821QE
the back page: that’s life
Costco in the morning I
By Dianne Cornell
would like to share a “Senior” day at Costco with you. On a recent morning my husband and I decided to take advantage of Costco’s helpful shopping for Seniors by opening their doors at 8 a.m. before the unruly crowds (whipper snappers, hooligans and millennials) storm the place. We got up much before our usual rise-and-shine time, and I suggested we leave the house a bit before 7:30 a.m. My husband inquired if the store didn’t open until 8 a.m. why we would want to leave so early. The thought (picture the little cartoon bubbles emanating from a head), “Why must I verbally express the reasoning behind my plan to him?” seemed silly. Then, I remembered he is a member of the male species so I said, “I’m sure there’s a lot of other Seniors wanting to get there to beat the crowd, and we want to get in line early.” Our plan — and mostly sole purpose of this trip — was to procure that illusive product, toilet paper (apparently if you have enough toilet paper in your pantry you are protected, in some magical way, from contracting COVID-19). We pulled into the Costco
parking lot at 7:35 a.m. And loand-behold there was already a line forming. My husband gasped and said, “My God! Look at all the people!” (Cartoon bubbles again.... wasn’t that my reasoning for leaving early?) We scrambled for our place in the structured, marked by cones in six-foot spacing, line. We were lucky as (if my math is correct) there were only 10 couples ahead of us so we must be just 60 feet from the door! The line quickly grew behind us. A very courteous, knowledgeable and comforting Costco employee told everyone the rules to be followed: “At 8 a.m. the doors will open. You will be let in in groups of 15 in oneminute intervals. You must stay in a line when in the store and not scatter.” I must say, Costco has this down pat. They were very organized and the employees had obviously been given the proper training to handle we Seniors. Carts all sanitized and deployed to us in quick, but not too quick (remember we are Seniors) fashion. Then, the courteous employee told all of us in line there is, “No toilet paper available.” The collective groan could be heard from at least three cone distances away. Our strategy
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It’s cold. Very cold. The line had now stretched down the sidewalk to the Automotive Department and out of sight. changed. We decided on paper napkins. It’s cold. Very cold. The line had now stretched down the sidewalk to the Automotive Department and out of sight. We noticed people much more “Senior” than we struggling and trudging to the back of the line. Some with canes. Many with masks. Some in wheelchairs. I started to feel guilty about my place in line. I thought, “Should we step aside and let some of these other people move up?” Well, that thought bubble popped as they announced the doors were open. We marched in orderly, as told, trying to remember all the instructions we were given while standing in the cold outside. The rush of warm air as we crossed the threshold brought us back to why we came here in the first place. We stopped at the meat display case, proceeded to the cheese section (after all, our
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May 2020
Feta was almost gone and man does not live by Kraft sandwich slices alone). And then... and then… IT’S A MIRACLE! There, just a few feet away was the tallest and biggest display (probably not but it seemed like it) of COSTCO KIRKLAND BRAND TOILET PAPER I have ever seen. We Seniors had been duped! It’s not nice to mess with Seniors. There was an aura of gold light surrounding it. People were mesmerized and then the sixfoot rule was no more. An employee quickly, but not too quickly, dispensed ONE 36roll package to each customer waiting for this precious lifesaving commodity. We genuflected and gratefully proceeded to the checkout counter. This is the first time when in Costco we passed up the wine and spirits aisle. And also the first time we exited the store for under $100. Life is good! Cheers! (as TP is better than champagne these days). Dianne Cornell is an East Wenatchee resident for too many years to count anymore. As a retiree, she enjoys volunteering with Wenatchee Central Lions Club and being a walking partner for dog, Maggie. A supporter of equal rights, Dianne regularly encourages her husband to play chef in the kitchen. Not one to complain, she finds the arrangement highly satisfactory.
Independence... Choices... It’s about You! During these challenging times, caring for our loved ones takes on a new meaning.
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