4A • December 24, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
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Falling in love with Lucy the Christmas pup
W
e haven’t had a lot of
dogs over the years.
Never more than two
at a time.
Our last Christmas dog was Ri-
naldo.
It is our wont to go Christmas
week to the shelter to give our do-
nation. But there’s no such thing
as “just a trip” to the shelter. Every
visit can be heart-wrenching.
We weren’t prepared at the time
to take in Rinaldo. We knew we
couldn’t get a big dog that would
intimidate our old, crippled Lhasa
Apso Basil, who was most like-
ly over-bred and as a result has a
curved front leg that makes veter-
inarians take snapshots for their
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dog that would scare off our two
cats. But we hadn’t expected this
sad-eyed old man.
The shelter had placed him in the
cat area because he was so small,
an older Chihuahua, shivering even
in his light blue wrap in the cold of
New York winter. He looked up
hopefully with dark eyes, knowing
that his second chances were per-
haps coming to an end. We heard
his story: he had been rescued from
a “kill” shelter in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
the meanest of the mean streets.
Who turns in a 6-pound Chihuahua
to be euthanized? He was about
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less, about 8, though some vets
thought he was already a bit older.
We asked to see him out of the
crate . We walked around the shelter
property, the sound of other dogs
barking and pleading. He quickly
peed on the ground and then looked
up at us hopefully.
He curled up in our arms as we
held him that cold post-Christmas
day. There was no way we were go-
SCENE FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
R.J. MARX PHOTO/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Lucy awaits instructions from her
older brother, Rinaldo.
ing to walk out of there without him.
In the weeks and months to
come we speculated how he could
have ended up with this fate. Like
any Chihuahua, he was fearful and
didn’t like to be poked or disturbed.
He growled while wagging his tail
and licking your hand.
Rinaldo and Basil settled in
together, two “Odd Couple” res-
cues, neither quite the romping
dog on the beach or the puppy you
envision in the pet food commer-
cials. But when we came west last
spring, they rode shotgun across
I-90, Rinaldo in his wool dog-
gy sweatshirts and Basil, his long
coat of hair keeping him warm on
a perch on a pile of duffel bags on
the back seat.
Since coming to the North
Coast, we’ve fallen in love with
the Clatsop County Animal Shel-
ter. Volunteers from throughout
brothers and sisters.
A larger 4-month old min pin
was herding the group and playing,
greeting guests and visitors. But
the littlest one was holding back,
sitting to the side. The runt of the
litter. Sweet, sad eyes, with wrinkly
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her in your hand, practically a bird.
You guessed it. We brought
her home and she is now a proud
resident of Gearhart. We spent 24
hours just thinking of a name: Gre-
ta, Gretl, Gerte, Athena, Aphrodite,
Lola, Lila … Lucy.
Today Lucy hops around our
upstairs with energy and gusto,
scrambling to great heights onto
a pillow and sometimes missing.
She pokes around cabinets and into
closets. Right now she is nibbling
R.J. MARX PHOTO/SEASIDE SIGNAL
at my feet.
Was it Lucy’s sad eyes that drew us to her?
Basil is kind but shy with her.
As for Rinaldo, it’s an amazing
the county spend countless hours Cannon Beach and an America- transition. This little feisty, tooth-
supporting the care and feeding no at Sleepy Monk, pulling out of less street-dog still snarls a bit
of these pets, including Clatsop 6HYHQ'HHVWU\LQJWR¿QGWKHSHU when Lucy pokes and nibbles at
Animal Assistance, Susie’s Senior fect holiday tree. As we drove north him. He shrugs her off when she
'RJV DQG WKH WKULIW VKRS EHQH¿ on Highway 101 back to Gearhart, skips at his heels. But for an old
ciary of the Seaside Rotary Club’s we saw the tiny small hand-lettered dog so blind he stands in front of
largesse this fall.
sign along the road side: Min pin the wrong door to get in the house,
We’ve scanned their ads and puppies. We drove past and Eve he has got a lot of spunk. He is
vowed we would take in another gulped. “A Chihuahua on steroids,” paternal with her. He shows her
older dog. After all they do make is how one miniature pinscher own- where to go for the food. And the
the best pets: they are well-trained er had once described his dog to us. water. She wants to eat out of Ri-
and loving, smart and oh so appre-
$VIRUPHU1HZ<RUNHUVWKDW¿W naldo’s bowl and he is willing to
share. At night he wraps his legs
ciative of all that we can give them. our personalities to a “T.”
Our plan was to nurture Basil and
We passed the entrance and then around her in the bed. They sleep
Rinaldo in their senior years, and doubled back around. “Let’s stop. side by side, spooning. He tells
her when to worry, and when ev-
then to pay a visit to the shelter. At Let’s just take a look.”
adoption day in Cannon Beach ear-
The pups were frolicking in an erything is all right. He shows her
lier this year we fell in love La-La, outbuilding behind the main house. the wee-wee pads and how to use
an adult Chihuahua who had both They were handsome, healthy them. She is a brilliant student.
the right amount of sympathy and dogs. The owner has been breeding She follows him everywhere. The
old dog and the new.
VSXQN WR ¿W LQWR RXU KRXVH7KUHH for decades.
An old dog will teach you what
dogs, though? How could we?
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So there we were out for a Sun- began to play. Of course the stron- you need to know. A puppy will
day drive, back from a stroll in gest were busy wrestling with their keep you young forever.
After some tough times, Seaside gives itself a library
T
ypically, the month of De-
cember means a time for
thinking about the ending of
an old year and looking forward
to a new year ahead. It can also
be a time for memories and rem-
iniscing, so I am taking the time
this December to dig deep into
the archives of the Seaside Public
Library. The roots of the Seaside
Library started back in 1913, when
Seaside was only a hundred or so
houses. The roads were often “cor-
duroy” roads or logs put down over
mud to be driven over. The start of
Seaside began with Ben Holladay’s
“Seaside House” in the 1870s. Of
course the area was settled long
before that by the Quatat village
that was in the Seaside area. It puts
things in perspective to realize that
only 30 years before this time,
during the 1880s, Portland was
referred to as having a population
roughly the size of Astoria today
(approximately 10,000 people).
Seaside was incorporated as a
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lending library in 1913 was after
the city had been well established.
The city had just recently gone
through some very tough times.
Jobs were scarce, and the saw mill
had gone bankrupt in 1912. There
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in which 54 businesses, homes,
and the Catholic Church were all
destroyed.
The year 1913 seems to have
been a time for rebuilding. In 1913
BETWEEN
THE COVERS
ESTHER MOBERG
the Seaside Library opened for busi-
ness as a reading room in the Dresser
building as part of the assigned du-
ties of the matron who ran the public
bathrooms. She assisted people with
borrowing books and oversaw the
“reading room.” No pun intended.
George E. Shaver is noted as the
original founder or “librarian” of the
library (although the bathroom ma-
tron did the actual work), as well as
the current Seaside civic improve-
ment club president. Apparently in
the beginning the library was open
to civic club members only. This
group of civic-minded people saw
an opportunity with the opening
of the public bathrooms to create a
space for people to also share books.
I believe the public restrooms were
opened to assist people who took
the railroad from Portland and As-
toria. The round-trip price was $1
from Portland. Many people arrived
in Astoria off boats either from Port-
land or the ocean and would take the
railroad to explore the south county
area. This seems to be a precursor
to the cruise ships of today that load
people on buses and bring them into
the south county area.
Mr. Shaver, the original librar-
ian, seems to have been a well-
known local society person and his
death in 1923 made the front page
of the Seaside Signal. In addition
to helping start the library, he and
his wife, Lena, were very active in
society. Mr. Shaver was a member
of the Seaside Civic Improvement
club, the Episcopal Church,
Eastern Star, Knights of
Pythias, Knight Templars
and a Shriner. In one so-
ciety blurb, Mrs. Shaver
was reported in July 1910
in the Morning Oregonian
to have attended a wed-
ding near Vernonia and
“cut ices” for the guests.
She was known as an
artist and Mr. Shaver’s
occupation was that of a
painter.
George E. Shaver
and his wife seem to
have been committed
to their civic duties.
We can thank them,
at least in part, for
starting the Sea-
side Library. From
humble beginnings,
the Library was born in the lit-
tle reading room off the public
EDWKURRPV7KH YHU\ ¿UVW OLEUDU\
in Seaside was located in the old
Dresser building on Holladay
where McKeown’s restaurant
stands today.
Historical information courtesy
of the Seaside Museum and Histor-
ical Society and Seaside Signal.
TOP: In 1913 the Seaside Library opened for business as a
reading room in the Dresser building.
BOTTOM: In the beginning the library was open to civic club
members only.
SUBMITTED PHOTOS/SEASIDE SIGNAL
A hummingbird remains indifferent to the wind and rain
W
e read in the paper, a
while back, about a car-
nival on the Washington
side. It’s been years since we had
one, though in my teen years it
happened every summer. Don’t
you think it’s about time to invite
one again? It might help to allay
some of our fears about the future.
The Methodist Church is start-
ing Sunday school again. There
aren’t many kids to take advan-
tage of it but we’re hoping that
will change. I think fondly of my
Sunday school years, especially
the songs and the stories. Kids
learn things about the Bible and
acceptable behavior that they of-
ten are not taught anywhere else.
Some refurbishment has been
done in the basement so it’s a nicer
living. If we do have something
extra, it behooves us to share. Cer-
SCENE & HEARD
tainly, no homeless person could
CLAIRE LOVELL
ever pay $50 for a license.
In an earlier storm on a Thurs-
day, I saw a hummingbird extract-
ing nectar from a fuchsia bush
atmosphere. We hope to see some outside the window, indifferent
of your little ones there and we’ll to rain and wind. Where did he
get to know each other better.
come from? Where did he go?
The recently proposed (and There were few of those birds at
failed) panhandling ordinance in my house in the summer, but to
Seaside was a poser. One of my fa- have one still around in the fall
vorite authors says what’s the use seems topsy-turvy.
if a man is destitute for daily food
In response to one letter to the
and you suggest that he go in peace editor, I can’t recall when Gearhart
DQGEHZDUPHGDQG¿OOHGZLWKRXW was “relatively unknown.” Rath-
giving him what he needs? Sure, er, I remember it as a small town
there may be those among them full of familiar families. Perhaps
who want rather than need the to someone in Massachusetts, one
money. It’s how they make their has to learn, but on the West Coast,
PUBLISHER
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
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EDITOR
PRODUCTION MANAGER
R.J. Marx
John D. Bruijn
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REPORTER
CIRCULATION MANAGER
ADVERTISING SALES
Katherine Lacaze
Heather Ramsdell
SYSTEMS MANAGER
Carl Earl
Laura Kaim
Wendy Richardson
certainly not. Many important peo-
ple had summer homes, regular
residences or relatives in Gearhart
— names like Holmstrom, Mc-
Call, Brougher or Honeyman, etc.
During Thanksgiving week
when we tooled around Astoria,
one trip took us up Coxcomb Hill
to the newly repainted Astoria Col-
umn. We just watched my son and
grandson approach the entrance to
the monument and in about three
minutes they were waving at us
from the top. In about the same in-
terval, there they were coming out.
It sure helps to have good legs. Da-
vid was eager to get out because he
felt a little sway at the viewpoint.
The seniors would like to say
a big “wrapped-in-red-ribbon”
thank you for their Christmas
Seaside Signal
The Seaside Signal is published
every other week by EO Media
Group, 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside
Oregon 97138. 503-738-5561. www.
seasidesignal.com
Letter policy
The Seaside Signal welcomes letters
to the editor. The deadline is noon
Monday prior to publication. Letters
must be 400 words or less and must
dinner at the Seaside Convention
Center on Dec. 13. It was an an-
ticipated pleasure. This annual
event, in which volunteers from
the Seaside Service Council put
on their Santa caps and serve their
elders, is very popular. City man-
ager Mark Winstanley was much
in evidence doing his bit. The
Barkers (Cheryle and Doug) were
scooting around as well as Santa
and others. It was great.
Laugh line:
Conversation in a French
restaurant:
Waiter: We’re serving escargot
today.
Patron: I don’t like snails!
Waiter: Why is that?
Patron: I prefer fast food.
be signed by the author and include
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also request that submissions be
limited to one letter per month. Send
to 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside,
OR 97138, drop them off at 1555
N. Roosevelt Drive or fax to 503-
738-9285. Or email nmccarthy@
seasidesignal.com
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