The Primary is over, and Washingtonians have made their choices.

I hope you all voted. I don’t care how or for whom, just so that you did.

PPP

A reminder that the VFW Auxiliary is hosting a Blood Drive this

Friday, March 3. Please drop by and donate if you can. I hope to see you there.

PPP

The Mountain Man and I spent last week down at the Ol’ Fishing

Lodge. I can’t really say it was a vacation, more of a working holiday. I

didn’t work here, but we sure worked there! I don’t call it a vacation unless I

can sleep in. No sleeping in when Charlie and Dave, the window guys, arrive

at 8 a.m. sharp to start tearing out the old so they can put in the new. It was

a noisy experience. But the new windows look great, and it is so

much easier to get the place warm with insulated glass. We kept turning

down the thermostat. It was wonderful!

We spent time working in the yard. Nothing major, just trimming

shrubs and hacking down blackberries and stuff like that. We have the most

amazing crop of ivy I have ever seen. It climbs into the trees, and drapes

itself everywhere. I cut and pulled until I could hardly move the next day. I

felt like the heroine of one of those old jungle movies, where every vine

she touches just might be a snake. No snakes, but a large variety of bugs

and twigs. It was lovely!

But we cleared up a lot and discovered two rhododendrons we

didn’t know we had. Also a large vine that I can’t identify. I brought a chunk

home for my boss, the Master Gardener, to help me with. If it flowers, it will

be lovely. But if it is related to kudzu and will take over the world, I want to

cut it down now. The bamboo is bad enough. I haven’t dealt with

bamboo before. There is one patch I want to completely get rid of, but I don’t

know how much of a chore that’s going to be. This stuff has roots

everywhere. But I was born stubborn, and that bamboo is going to

go, even if it takes me forever. Which it might.

002 ¾, aka Dakota the Undercover Cat, also enjoyed the trip. She

preened as the window guys told her what a pretty cat she was and had a great

time leaping out of the ivy after the tines of the rake. She sometimes forgets

the dignity of her 16 years.

PPP

Girl Scouts and Brownies selling cookies have replaced the Camp

Fire Girls. My favorites are the Thin Mints and the Mountain Man favors the

Samoan. Buy a few boxes of your favorites. They freeze well, if you can

keep from eating all of them right away. And the money goes to a good

cause. It isn’t often that a sweet tooth and a good deed come in the same box.

PPP

Got e-mail from Leigh Feisthammel, former North Bend

resident, now living in North Carolina. She has taken up clog dancing. I

told her I expect regular updates on her progress. I have two left feet and

I appreciate people who can actually perform dance steps without

hurting themselves.

PPP

I also have an update on my friend Joan. So many people have

asked about her, and I am glad to report she is doing better. She is getting out

and about more, so you may see her in the local grocery. I want to thank

everyone who has been praying for her.

PPP

Thought for the Week: I am not the light, or the source of the light.

But light — truth, understanding, knowledge — is there, and it will only

shine in many dark places if I reflect it.

— Alexander Papaderos.

Let your light shine this week.

Please submit items for

North Bend Nuggets to

Pat Simpson at P.O. Box 857,

North Bend, WA 98045,

or by e-mail to patsimps@hotmail.com,

or drop them by the library.