The INDEPENDENT, May 16, 2012
Page 9
Bits & Bites
By Jacqueline Ramsay
Hello, all you Sun worship-
pers. From 45° Saturday, the
5th, to 75° Saturday, the 12th.
No wonder people are having
the 5-day grippe or a new dose
of pollen fever.
As you know, life is never
dull in the Jungle if you go
along with your head, while it is
somewhere else. Last Satur-
day of April a group of us
church folk go out for a No Host dinner. Lots of food
and friendship and since it is a No Host dinner, we eat
whatever we want. We all ordered our taste bud’s de-
sire and were munching on stuffed mushrooms when
our salads came. Delicious, munch munch, ahhh-
hh…when suddenly my granddaughter, with a mouth-
ful of salad, and stirring up her next forkful, let’s out a
Eeeek Ohoooo Ahhhh UGH, “There’s a lady bug in my
salad!!” We all top chewing to gape at her. She say’s,
“It’s alive, swimming in ranch dressing.” “Well, pick it
out, no leave it there and call the waitress,” someone
said. Apparently, other tables had taken notice of us
and the waitress was at hand. She was shocked at
what she saw, said, “I’ll get the Manager,” and off she
went. He, too, was mortified, apologized all over the
place, asking, “Do you wish another salad? No, forget
it. I don’t know how it could happen, we wash all of our
salad stuff before we use it.” We all went back to eat-
ing, laughing and talking of times something dumb
had happened to us while eating out.
Our dinners finally came, we ate and enjoyed our
respective meals – Mine was Cajun Catfish. Ahhhh. I
shall not mention the name of the eating house as
those things can happen to anyone and I shall return
for another order of Cajun Catfish sometime in the fu-
ture. I imagine the manager went to the vegetable
cook and had quite a talk with him or her. The evening
ended quite peacefully and my son did not have to
pay the $19 whatever for the dinner.
Chapter 2 – The entire saga of the Red Devil vac-
uum cleaner. It seems there was a flood in a “little lost
town” in the hills of Oregon, called Vernonia. The year
was 1996. The flood made a mess of everything. One
lady decided to vacuum up a mess of scattered wet
cat litter!! Long story cut short – Unable to dump it out
so the Red Devil wound up at the Senior Center.
Geeee, what a find (we thought) until we found out
why we had been blessed with it. Throw it in the
garbage, said one of the disgruntled workers. No, said
I, I’ll take it home and play with it. So, I drug it home
and found the cat litter was practically cement in the
bag, the tube, and all other places it had gotten into. I
played with it for three or four weeks and finally
plugged it in. It ran like a new vacuum should. Yes, I
kept it and I have used it ever since, only replacing fan
belts. Ladies: That is 15-1/2 years. On May 5, it gave
up the ghost. A few Bakelite pieces just gave up and
broke so I gave it a burial in the court garbage contain-
er, went out and bought me a Bissel. Farewell, my
friend, the Devil, you’ll be missed. So, I’m now saying,
“Thank you”, to someone who made a big goof (in the
trauma of the flood 15 years ago.) Can any of you
folks top that?
Now, I saw the picture of what used to be a very
necessary building at the lake. It seems to me that
Vernonia has a few folks in town that can’t stand to
have a place for folks to go, sit and relax, fish, or walk
to get out in the fresh air. You would be surprised at
the number of folks I’ve met in the past 2-1/2 years
that go to Vernonia to fish the lake, walk the trails, and
go to join in the fun of Jamboree, Salmon Festival, the
4th of July, or just to visit the town and the people.
There is one fellow I see almost every week, that
asks, “How’s the new school complex coming?” I met
him when I worked at the food bank. There was no
work there for him so he had to move out, but he
would love to have a place there. The Mrs. Brown
building, as I referred to it, was a very necessary place
for Shadow and me every time we picked blackberries
or just walked the lake or sat down at the campground
and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a spell.
Nuff said for this time.
24 Years Ago This Month
The May 26, 1988, issue of
The Independent included the
following news story on page 6:
Festive occasions in Ver-
nonia may soon be enhanced
by the presence of colorful ban-
ners hung from utility poles
along Bridge Street and Rose
Avenue, the Jamboree commit-
tee has announced.
The project, conceived of
two years ago, has material-
ized largely through the efforts
of committee member Robin
Traylor. Traylor, a local artist, is
fabricating three feet by five
feet banners of bright blue,
green and red awning fabric,
which will display a nature de-
sign featuring wild life forms
characteristic of our area.
Prototypes of the banners
drew praise and support from
Jamboree committee members
and from the Chamber of Com-
merce board of directors. An
endorsement by the Health
Fair committee persons is an-
ticipated.
T-shirts for the 32nd annual
Jamboree are now on sale at
Brunsman Hardware, Vernonia
Video Express and Sunnyside
Market. Coffee cups and base-
ball type hats with a logger
logo are also available at these
outlets.
Made in Vernonia
The public is invited to join us in honoring those who
have served, given their lives or are still missing.
Memorial
Day
Ceremonies
Monday, May 28, 2012 11:00 a.m.
Vernonia Memorial Cemetery
2080 Bridge Street • Vernonia
Please plan to arrive early • Limited seating available
G UEST S PEAKER
Veterans Administration
Ed Van Dyke
M ASTER OF C EREMONIES
Detachment Commander
Del White
T HE N ATIONAL A NTHEM
and other songs Performed by
Dianna Stoffer
B ENEDICTION &
C LOSING P RAYER
Richard Keeling
P RESENTATION OF C OLORS
AND 21 G UN S ALUTE
American Legion Post #104 Aloha, OR
Bit of something handmade for everyone!
805 Bridge Street 503-429-0111
Open Tue., Thu. & Sat.
10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Ceremonies sponsored by City of Vernonia
VERNONIA MEMORIAL CEMETERY
2080 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064
This space courtesy of Fuiten, Rose & Hoyt Funeral Home • Forest Grove & Vernonia