Today is the first time that David Moses has jumped onto a springboard since a fateful day last summer.

It was hard, but he took the leap in stride.

After winning the Stihl Timbersports Series’ Western Qualifyer last spring, Moses’ hopes for a first-place trophy at nationals fell after he tore part of his Achilles tendon at the national championship last June. As he climbed a vertical log, his springboard slipped, dropping Moses. His leg slammed against a metal tree stand.

Climbing back up, he found his ankle wouldn’t support him. But he fought on and competed the rest of the day. That meant last-place finishes in springboard, stock saw and the underhand chop. One legged, he finished ninth out of 10 competitors.

“I stayed in it,” he said. “I could have been a finalist, easily. I did all that hard work, and then it ended.”

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The clock is ticking for Jerry Mader.

He’s got an ambitious goal, less than a month left to meet it. And he’s depending on friends and strangers to invest in his latest book, that helps and documents people they’ll probably never meet.

Crowd funding is a new thing for this Carnation author, photographer and musician, working on his fourth book, “A Gathering of Stories.”

He’s self-published histories of Carnation and local farms, but is now one of several Valley creative types to turn to Internet investors to bankroll a project. He’s using a company called Indiegogo to connect with would-be investors interested in seeing artistic projects come to life.

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Something as simple as a cleaner fire truck makes a difference for North Bend firefighter Bob Venera. With a shiny truck, “you can take more pride in what you have,” and in the job you do, he says.

In six months, Venera and his fellow crew members can take more pride in shinier trucks, and shinier everything.

With construction proceeding without a hitch on the new Station 87 on Maloney Grove Avenue, local firefighters will bid farewell to the 60-year-old station, adjacent to City Hall on Second Street—and its archaic layout.

Life as a firefighter will be very different. For starters, washing a truck won’t require the rigamarole of hanging up plastic sheets and catch-basins inside bays that were never meant for wash duty—when Station 87 was built in 1947, trucks got washed outside, with nary a care for storm drains.

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Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson ended speculation Monday on whether he will seek a third term.

“It’s been an honor for the past seven years to serve with such a fine group of people, the staff and this council,” Larson said at the close of the February 25 council meeting.

“If the citizens of Snoqualmie allow me, I’d like to throw my hat in for another four years.”

Larson was unopposed in 2009. In 2005, he beat James Harrelson, 55 percent to 43 percent.

His announcement prompted the rest of the council to declare their intentions, and like Larson, all those due to re-run this fall choose to do so.

“I echo your comment, and I will be running,” Maria Henriksen, position five, told the mayor.

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You can walk the block and find color and music in unexpected places in downtown Snoqualmie.

Try this for example. On the same February morning, four string musicians—Sheila Bateman and her three children in the Giovani String Quartet—played at City Hall, a teen choir sang in the downtown storefront, and youth and local art was on display in city hall and at the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce office. It was all part of an art walk organized by the Snoqualmie Arts Commission, Downtown Snoqualmie Merchants Association and the Chamber, “For the Love of Snoqualmie.”

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Nels Melgaard has never seen his friends and neighbors come together in such a big way before—not locally, certainly not on behalf of a single person.

Yet Nels was the man at the center of a two-weekend effort that saw patrons, friends, fellow members of Sallal Grange, and their families, arrive at his Nursery at Mount Si, for work parties aimed at getting this cancer-battling North Bend man’s business a huge boost before the busy season.

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