SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016
Sisson to speak about C AR C HRONICLES —
benefits of kombucha
The journey
Do your New Year resolu-
tions include beginning or
continuing a healthier
lifestyle in 2016? If
so, have you discov-
ered Kombucha?
Florence
Herb
Enthusiasts invite all
to kick off the new
year by learning
about the wonderful
healing properties of Gayle
kombucha.
Kombucha can help with
what ails you, from arthritis to
indigestion.
Join the enthusiasts for a fun
hour with local culinary
favorite Gayle Sisson as she
explores the making and tast-
ing of kombucha.
Whether you are a beginner
or expert on this fermented
tea, Sisson’s presentation will
be loaded with valuable infor-
mation.
Attendees will learn about
everything from the benefits of
the popular probiotic, what
flavors best suit individuals
and what equipment is needed
to start making kombucha at
home.
Attendees will will receive
valuable information about
online, local, and other
resources for sourcing prod-
ucts and continued
education.
Very
little
is
required to make
kombucha and it is
quite
affordable.
There will be scobies
(starters) to share for
those who are ready
Sisson to try. Just bring a
baggie or plastic or
glass container if you want to
take a starter home — but
remember, kombucha doesn’t
like metal.
The
Florence
Herb
Enthusiasts will be gathering
for its first presentation of the
year, on Thursday, Jan. 21, at
11 a.m., at the New Life
Lutheran Church on Spruce
Street, next to Florence Food
Share parking lot.
Members, remember to pay
your annual dues of $10 this
month.
Exact change is appreciated.
Through monthly meetings
and special events, the
Florence Herb Enthusiasts
explore, experience and learn
about culinary, craft, folklore
and medicinal use of herbs.
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B Y C AL A PPLEBEE
Special to the Siuslaw News
W
e’re beginning a
new journey —
another trip back
through time — here in the
pages of the Siuslaw News,
this time dealing with auto-
mobiles.
The Florence community
enjoys the existence of at
least four car clubs and an
older population of retired
baby-boomers, many of
whom have the dream rides
from their youth, so we
thought it only fitting to run a
series that journeys back in
time and visits some of those
rides.
Over the years, I have
attempted to keep count of the
many vehicles that have come
and gone from my driveway,
and at this point in my life
that number totals nearly 90
vehicles. I have to confess,
that number does include a
few projects that never left
under their own power, but
were towed away to become
someone else’s project. But it
does include a lot of memo-
ries, mostly good, some not-
so good!
From time to time I’ll reach
back into the trunk of my
memory and pull out some
anecdotes that will hopefully
entertain you as well as
demonstrate a point in regards
to cars. But for starters, we’ll
begin this journey as with any
journey — at the beginning,
and for a car buff, that means
the first car.
Of course I was like a lot
of kids growing up in the
1950s — a car nut. I had
older brothers and sisters who
brought friends with cool cars
into our life from time to
time. I had a model car col-
lection like all the other kids
in the neighborhood and
couldn’t wait to get that first
car.
In my early teen years, I
ended up living with the Hill
family in Idaho, purely a vol-
untary arrangement and not as
a formal adoption or ward of
the state, but they did also
take in teenaged boys official-
ly as wards of the state.
During those years, I actually
started learning how to drive:
first, old Ford tractors —
there are some stories there as
well — and, eventually, the
farm truck in the field hauling
corn and hay, then the family
pickup and occasionally the
family car. In Idaho at the
time, because of the heavy
farming and ranching econo-
my, state law allowed a youth
to get a daytime-only driver’s
license at age 14 to help out
on the farm.
One of the other kids stay-
ing with the Hill family had
enough time on his hands that
he began working for a neigh-
boring farm lady at the
princely sum of $1 an hour,
working towards one of two
old cars she had parked in the
farm yard. For the price of
$30, when he finished work-
ing off his debt, he could
have his pick between a 1950
Chrysler and a 1953 Chevy,
both four-door sedans.
When he reached $23
towards his quest, he was
transferred to another foster
family in another part of the
state, and he bequeathed to
me his $23 credit towards the
car of his dreams. Being the
savvy business planner I
thought I was at the time, I
took $7 from my milk money
allowance, a brother and a
tow chain, visited the neigh-
boring farm yard and towed
home my first automobile, a
begins
1953 Chevy 150, four-door
sedan.
Chevrolet offered three lev-
els of passenger cars during
that time period — the top-of-
the-line Bel Air, the mid-line
210 Deluxe and the low-level
150 Special, which was my
car. The 150 series was the
basic model at that time that
didn’t have much exterior
trim other than the gravel
shield. The interior was pretty
basic as well — in fact, mine
had no back seat. I was told
by the neighbor lady that her
husband had removed it since
he had worked at one time as
a traveling salesman and
replaced it with a plywood
shelf to stack supplies on.
My particular faded blue
car had the 235 six-cylinder
and three on the tree. Since I
had been driving the family
Chevy sedans and truck that
were similarly outfitted, driv-
ing it was a piece of cake. It
wasn’t fast, wasn’t pretty —
didn’t even have hubcaps —
but it was basic transportation
and my very own first car.
I think I was toward the
end of my sophomore year in
high school at the time and
that car lasted through the
summer months and into the
start of my junior year before
its demise, when it left me
stranded on the side of the
road coming home from
school one day — something
that would become a pattern
over the decades.
When new, that car would
cost a consumer around
$1,670, depending on options,
if any. Today, Internet shop-
ping indicates that car would
fetch about $3,000 for decent
and complete untouched
examples, and upwards of
$6,500 or more for prime
specimens.
For 1953, Chevrolet pro-
duced 1,109,718 vehicles,
including 300 Corvettes,
according to one online
resource. Seventeen percent
of those were the 150 Series
of which mine was, and the
SALEM — The month of
January is the last opportunity
for Oregonians to enroll in
health insurance plans for
2016. Open enrollment lasts
through Sunday, Jan. 31.
It is the time of year to
change plans and, for those
who do not have insurance, to
buy a plan. If you don’t get
covered before the deadline,
you could go a year without
insurance. You could also pay a
significant penalty when you
file your 2016 taxes.
The penalty for not having
insurance in 2016 is the higher
of these two numbers: 2.5 per-
cent of your yearly household
income or $695 for every adult
in your family, plus $347.50 for
every child under 18.
The penalty could potential-
ly be as much as $2,085 for a
family of four, with two parents
and two children younger than
18, earning $50,000 a year.
Oregonians can sign up,
renew, or change their health
insurance
plans
at
www.HealthCare. gov.
Even if you were already re-
enrolled in your current plan,
you can change plans through
Jan. 31.
“If the price of your current
plan has increased for 2016, it
may be worth checking
HealthCare.gov to see if you
can find a less expensive plan
or if you qualify for financial
help,” said Patrick Allen, direc-
tor of the Department of
Consumer
and
Business
Services (DCBS), which runs
the Oregon Health Insurance
Marketplace.
According to the Centers for
Medicare
and
Medicaid
Services, consumers who shop
and switch plans could save an
estimated average of $569 on
their 2016 plan.
As of Jan. 2, 2016, 133,776
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It’s ea
to help
Call the Siuslaw News to Join Our Senior Directory
541-997-3441
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997-8114
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four-door model represented
28 percent of that Series. My
particular first car would be
one of several Chevrolet
products I would own and
drive over the years.
Some readers may recall
that in the past I have stated
that I am not an expert on
anything — largely because I
am not, but also because I
recall Dad Hill telling me
during those early formative
years that one definition of an
“expert” is a “has-been drip,
under pressure.” So, while I
am an enthusiast and passion-
ate about a lot of things,
expert I am not, and that cer-
tainly applies to automobile
mechanics.
On that hot summer after-
noon while driving home, my
little blue Chevy developed a
slight knock in the engine,
and since it was only eight
miles from Marsing to the
farm, I was certain I could
nurse it along and make it
home so Dad Hill could fig-
ure out the problem and solve
it as usual.
Of course, I was wrong,
another emerging pattern for
later in life.
About a mile and a half
away from home, a rod went
through the side of block and
I coasted to the side of the
road in a cloud of blue
smoke. I hoofed it home,
grabbed the farm pickup, a
chain and Dad Hill, and we
towed it home to the growing
boneyard on the farm. That
first car would become a
donor car to another vehicle
in the collection eventually.
So the journey begins —
and I hope you’ll ride along
over future months as we
travel back in time and visit
some of my vehicles and fol-
lies, and along the way, hope-
fully you will also re-live
some of your vehicle ven-
tures.
In the meantime, travel
safe.
Last chance to enroll without health care penalty
PORT OF SIUSLAW
BRADLEY
BERG
3 B
S
S IUSLAW
IUSLAW
N EWS
148 Maple St.
Florence
541-997-3441
541-997-3040
www.portofsiuslaw.com
1 st & Harbor • Florence, OR 97439
email:campground@portofsiuslaw.com
Oregonians had selected a plan
through Health Care.gov.
That number is about 19 per-
cent higher than the approxi-
mately 112,000 Oregonians
who selected a plan in 2015.
Financial help is available
for many people if they enroll
through HealthCare.gov.
Depending on their income,
they may qualify for tax credits
to help pay their monthly pre-
mium and help with out-of-
pocket
costs
such
as
deductibles and co-pays.
Three
out
of
four
Oregonians
who
used
HealthCare.gov last year
received tax credits averaging
$199 per month.
Oregon has a network of
insurance agents and commu-
nity organizations ready to help
people enroll. You can find an
agent or community partner in
your area by going to www.
oregonhealthcare.gov/
get-help.html, or calling the
Oregon Health Insurance
Marketplace at 1-855-268-
3767 (toll-free).
DCBS also provided grants
to 24 agents to create drop-in
enrollment centers during open
enrollment. These centers will
be open during the entire open
enrollment period during nor-
mal business hours, with some
extended hours.
You can find the list of
enrollment centers at www
.oregonhealthcare.gov/get-help
.html. To start shopping for
plans, visit HealthCare.gov or
call 1-800-318-2596 (toll-free)
(TTY: 1-855-889-4325).
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