Grays River Grange #124

County Auditor Notice of GRHED Election

Wahkiakum County Auditor Diane Tischer has announced the April 27th election for the Grays River Habitat Enhancement District Board of Directors. Download Notice of GRHED Election

Polls will be open from 7am to 8pm on that Tuesday - Johnson Park, Rosburg. Download GRHED BALLOT (Sample Ballot)

Download Absentee Ballot Request Form

Download Grays River Parcels GRHED MAP

Weighted Ballots for Habitat Enhancement District Election

Master's Station No. 2 - By Krist Novoselic

The election for the Grays River Habitat Enhancement District board will be on Tuesday, April 27th. There has not been an election for quite some time and I’m finding that many are unaware of the way the district conducts the voting.

It appears the rules for the election are set up with landowners and taxpayers in mind. School funding levies used to have a sixty percent threshold to pass – the intention was to provide a balance for citizens who pay the property taxes. Instead of a supermajority threshold, voters in the district will have weighted ballots. Ballots are distributed according to how much land the taxpayer owns. It resembles corporate elections where shareholders cast a ballot that’s weighted according to how much stock they own.

Words For Thirds At Naselle School

Teacher Crystal Lanz, Grangers: Cody Cooley, Megan Agee, Krist Novoselic and Darlene Ammer presented dictionaries to Naselle 3^rd graders last Monday. The dictionaries are courtesy of Wahkiakum Pomona Grange and the Words For Thirds program.

Grange Celebrates Arrival of Spring

New Grange Members Cody Cooley and Megan Agee in front of Graces left - Marilyn Gudmanson FLORA, Darbury Novoselic CERES, Amy Ammer POMONA.

The March 23^rd meeting began with the Exemplification of the First Degree.  The First Degree is symbolizes springtime on the farm.  Springtime is when labourers are needed and are seeking work.  Megan Agee and Cody Cooley were the candidates participating in the Grange event and at the conclusion of the Exemplification became Grays River Grange newest members. We also welcomed Kurt Steinke as a new member. 

Pie Auction to Benefit Skamokawa Grange

Pies for Charity has a long standing tradition with the Grange.  It goes back to the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt and raising money for polio.  Charities and fund raisers have changed but the need stays the same. Folks are asked to bring pies to be auctioned at the oyster stew dinner next Tuesday the 23rd. (See below) Monies raised will be donated to the Skamokawa Grange to go towards a new sound system for their hall.  

Upcoming Grange Events For March

Reminder - Contra Dance Friday night, March 19 at Skamokawa Grange Hall, from 8 to 11 pm. 

MARCH 23 - 6:30 Norm Anderson's Oyster Stew. It's also a potluck so bring a dish, or just bring an appetite. 

7:30 - Exemplification of the 1st Degree.

Right: Mrs. Mary Bryant Mayo was one of the founders of the Grange. She was the force behind equal membership for women in the organization.

Grange Meeting Tonight

Locavore Dinner 6:30

Regular Grange Meeting 7:30

Of Butterflies, Bigfoot, and Toads

Gray's River Almanac, Number 2

By Robert Michael Pyle - Lecturer

In his poem "Blue Butterfly Day," describing Spring Azure butterflies, Robert Frost wrote:  

It is blue butterfly day here in spring 

And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry 

There is more unmixed color on the wing 

Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry.  

                  Some years our "blue butterfly day" has come in February, and with our pale-pink pioneer camellias in full flush almost a month early, the first blues could  be out any day.  So far, in the fitful sunshine, two kinds of  little inchworm moths flutter around first-bloomers such as spiraea and heather in the garden and native coltsfoot in the hills.  One sort is warm cocoa brown, the other black and white with blue and chestnut highlights if you look closely.  I call them "honorary butterflies" because they fly by day and look like tiny butterflies, though they emerge a few weeks earlier.   You'll know it when the first real butterflies come out: the brilliant sky-blue of our  Echo Azures is unmistakable. 

Elochoman Grange Re-Organization March 10th

At 6:00 PM, March 10th, there will be a meeting regarding re-organization of the Elochoman Grange #426, located at 259 Elochoman Valley Rd. 

Come and find out about America's Family fraternity. The Grange has been active in Wahkiakum County for over 100 years. Hear about the benefits of membership. The Grange is non-partisan yet advocates issues on behalf of members. Learn about the bottom up, grassroots structure of an organization that's been in Washington since 1889 - two months before statehood! Members of area Granges will also be present.

Please browse the following .pdf brochures regarding Grange Membership: 

Individual Member

Family

Junior