News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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We decided to visit my family in North Dakota over spring break. We had never done this in all these (almost 20) years of being together. Mom and Sis were excited to have us, as was Gage (turning 6 during our visit) and Kash, who was just born in December. We soon found out why we have never visited. A landslide on one of the passes and a blizzard on another left us going about 25-40 MPH for a big chunk of driving, and leaving us 200 miles short of our first night’s destination and searching f...
We ushered in a seasonal change on March 21 with equal day and night times. Now, we are gaining more and more daylight as we head into summer. We are gaining roughly three minutes a day. For the month of April, we will gain an hour and 16 minutes of daylight. Let’s take a look at March and see where the numbers ended. Precipitation was nearly a half inch more than the mean at 1.28 inches, while the mean is 0.88 inches. The record high, set in 2012, was 4.13 inches. We measured 1.4 inches of n...
February left us with a good amount of snow and was our coldest month, too. We measured 8.3 inches of new snow here at the home weather station (compared to a mean snowfall is 2.5 inches and a high of 17.1 inches in 1959) and a low temperature of minus 1.8°F on the 6th of the month (minus 15°F was our lowest in 1950). Our total precipitation was 1.46 inches which, as always this time of year, includes Snow Water Equivalent (SWE). The high temperature for the month was 51.6°F on the 12th (61°F wa...
Here is an interesting video that highlights a technology that will soon begin to impact our community, our lives: 3D Printing. Someday, you'll "print" the sweater you plan to wear the next day. Or, finding that you need a new part to repair your kitchen sink, you'll download a recipe for it and print it out. This could have enormous implications for rural communities. Currently, 3D printing is used by hobbyists to make trinkets and small objects, but the people in the video below are beginning...
As winter ends, gardeners, get out that ladder and spruce up the shrubs and trees in your landscape. Ladders can be very useful to help you get into position to make appropriate cuts, which will improve your trees and shrubs. They can take the wear off your shoulders by allowing you to be at the height of the cut rather than constantly reaching up for that high branch. The downside of ladders is you can fall. So here some pointers to insure your safety while using your ladder. First of all, always use a tripod ladder to prune trees and shrubs....
January kicked off our new year on the warmer and drier side. Here at the home weather station we had a January mean temperature of 31.5°F, while the overall mean is 26.9°F for a difference of 4.6°F. The low for the month was 14.9°F on Jan. 31 (all-time low was -17°F in 1950) and our high was 55.9°F Jan. 13 (all-time high was 61°F in 1981). Our January precipitation was on the low side. We measured only 0.49 inches, just about all of it from 4.9 inches of snowfall (actually, it is called Snow Water Equivalent or SWE). Our mean precip...
This is a different kind of Gem in the Coulee. The man I speak about today is a father, first and above everything else. He prefers to work behind the scenes and let others be the face of success and importance, but make no mistake, Jim Barry is a Gem. He has raised 12 kids here in the Coulee and has established himself as a dedicated father, husband, grandfather, employee and volunteer. In 1985, a family moved in to a house very close to my grandmother's. All we knew then was that they had...
For December, here at the home weather station, we only had three days of low temperatures in the single digit area — the 5th, 7th and 8th. The lowest was a 3.5°F on the 8th, while our high temperature came in at 42.8°F on the 1st. Record temperatures for December are an all-time low of minus 16°F in 1968 and the all-time high of 58°F back in 1936. The mean for the month is 29.5°F and this December ours was 26°F, 3.5°F lower. Again, we were on the dry side of precipitation. Only 0.15 inches a...
As I was standing in line at Safeway the other night, the young lady at the register was trying to buy a few things and apparently she did not have enough money. She was embarrassed and a look of worry covered her face. She was trying to get her husband/boyfriend’s attention without causing too much of a scene. He was talking with a friend and was pretty much ignoring her needs. I have been there. Not having enough to pay for what you got or, for whatever reason, your card decides it doesn’t want to work. Embarrassment is an und...
Advice from hunting divas Haley Neddo and Olivia Ludwig As you may know, my success rate for harvesting anything this last hunting season was poor. Honestly, it was less than poor because I did have opportunities but failed to execute. So I searched high and low for local experts in the field of hunting, to give me tips and advice for next season. The rumor was they killed everything this year from lady bugs to Sasquatch, but as I sat down with Olivia and Haley and asked for advice for not only...
I sometimes wonder, “What is going to make our history book that is happening today?” So I researched the last 365 days to see what I thought would be written for future generations to study and to decide if it was a pivotal moment in history. Although Paula Dean, Miley Cyrus and Duck Dynasty made other people’s top-ten lists of the news for 2013, they did not make mine. (But I guess they just made the column.) Two people stepped into the spotlight this year that will probably have impact for g...
The home weather station measured a trifling 0.14 inches of precipitation for October. Looking back at past years shows we’ve had more — 1.15 inches in 2012, 0.54 inches in 2011, 1.23 inches in 2010 and 1.36 inches in 2009. The mean for October is 0.72 inches. We’ve been above the mean three of the last five years. Temperatures were generally on par with a high of 70.7°F occurring on the 6th of the month and a low of 29.1°F on Oct. 30. The all-time mean for October is 51.1°F; all-time high was...
Get ready for some griping. Here’s Frankie Delano’s ongoing, seasonal complaint, and you all are welcome to join in if you can relate to my current rant. While I was out and about in the Coulee and elsewhere this past weekend and listening to some tunes on the radio, I heard an announcement that there are only a few shopping weeks left before Christmas Day. Can you believe it? Anyway, I thought to myself, I’ve only got two-plus months to shop until I drop. So starts the holiday shopping frenzy. Do you know what a yard sale shopping frenzy is? W...
The high temperatures we had up to mid-September, 80s and 90s, have dropped off measurably. As we transitioned into October we’ve had nothing above the high 70s. I think it’s fair to state we are now in autumn weather. My home weather station recorded a high temperature of 95.9°F on Sept. 13 (all-time high was 104°F in 1938) and a low of 39.5° on the September 25 (all-time low of 30°F in 1970). Precipitation was on the light side though above the mean (0.72 inches) with 0.88 inches recorde...
The Raider sports is in full swing at Lake Roosevelt, and for one person football season is his time to work. He is at every practice, every game (home and away), every meeting, he even checks in on the athletic director from time to time to make sure he is doing his job. You might have gone to a home football game and seen him, or you might have run into him in the store as he is hugging someone and giving an enthusiastic smile with a “Hey Buddy.” You might have got a look at him working at...
If you listen closely you’ll hear flapping going on in all of the towns here in the Coulee. Yes, I said flapping, like the wings of those majestic Eagles when they fly over the Columbia River, Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt looking for a fish or two. What’s this about? Snow Birds. I’m sure you know some snow birds.I know quite a few and now that winter is closing in on the Coulee, I kind of wish I could be a snow bird and go south for the winter months, with a soft landing in sunny Arizona. Should I have said revving up their engines instead of...
This last weekend I got to go to Airways Heights and watch my nephew Zack score two touchdowns running like Russel Wilson and throw another TD through the air. So proud. He looked calm, cool and collected as he performed like a superstar; not only on offense but on defense as well. It made me think of the fundamentals that we teach our kids at an early age. Not just the art of winning and doing it with style (no touchdown dances here,) just a flick of the football to the ref and high fives on...
Manly men doing manly things! I went to the men’s retreat this past weekend with other men from Faith Community Church. We went to the Peniel Ranch on the lower river road between Omak and Agency Campus. I have been there a few times with this group of men, and it is always a special time. Fellowship is always a key component to this retreat, and this year seemed to have a great mix of ages in the men who came. One man in his 90s and one in his 20s and an even mix of the rest. I got to know some...
Aug. 25 saw a very strong, fast moving storm system blow through our area. We continue to clean up the mess left behind. Winds of 65 miles per hour and above were noted in many areas. Here at the home weather station, where we are a bit protected, we had a gust of 43 mph and a third of an inch of rain from the system. As I write this column, we just experienced another fast moving storm system. Fortunately, it appears this one wasn’t as strong or severe as the Aug. 25 event. Our temperature rang...
Holy Tornado! Let’s put aside our favorite topics (shopping and junking) for a bit for a quick rant and rave about the latest t-storm that blew through the Coulee Sunday evening, with gusting winds and lightning strikes dancing around. When the power went out at Detective Frankie D.’s abode, I wondered for a moment if the house would take flight and wind up over the rainbow, crashing down in the Land of Oz. If that had happened, I was ready to belt out a few of Judy Garland’s famous tunes and put on a pair of red, jeweled shoes, tapping the h...
A post that has been making its rounds on Facebook got me thinking about the way things used to be and the way things are now. When was the last time you saw kids playing cowboys and Indians? I know that’s not very politically correct these days, but when we were kids we had no idea what racial prejudice was. We just went outside and pretended to shoot one another over and over again. That’s one more thing that kids can’t get away with today either. But they can play bloody, violent video...
Oh My Gosh! Were you out and about in the Coulee, driving up and down the streets of coulee towns on Friday and Saturday? Well, Detective Frankie D. took time out from other terribly important grunt work, like cleaning up debris left outdoors after our latest t-storm, to stop by a couple of yard sales. So, since some of my change and dollar bills, earmarked for junky purchases, were just about ready to burn a hole in my wallet, I just had to (yes, had to) make a couple of stops and shop around. On my way into Coulee Dam on Friday, I noticed a...
Do you smell that in the air? The smell of dirty sneakers and cleats, sweaty football pads and gym socks. Yep. High school and middle school fall sports is upon us. Parents will soon be finding the trail of backpacks, gear bags, sports shoes and water bottles leading to an exhausted child snoring on the couch. This child will be roused just enough to eat, do some homework, take a shower, (hopefully) and crash into his or her bed only to do it again the following day. Parents will be begged for G...
by Frankie Delano Hey, shoppers, did you miss me? So now it’s after Labor Day weekend, which, in the wonderful world of shopping and junking signals (gasp!) the possibility of fewer yard, garage, moving, and special interest (antique and collectible) sales being held in the Coulee. We still have a few more weeks of possibly acceptable weather for outdoor sales, that of cool mornings and balmy afternoons, which allow us ample opportunities for running the yard sale gamut, like getting to and then walking around tables and tarps loaded with mound...
I have been addicted to fantasy football since I was in high school. There, I admitted it. That’s part of the healing process. I can now move on. At the worst part of the addiction I was in six or seven leagues at the same time. That was a stressful time and it made watching the games even more confusing. Now, I know some of you out there have no idea what I’m talking about and there are others that just salivate at the idea of a keeper league. Others, like wives or girlfriends of a team own...