CONTENTS
HPCC: From the Treasurer’s Desk
High Prairie Suffers Another Loss
Lyle Christmas Bazaar a Long-time Tradition
HPCC Invites All to Oktoberfest 2019
Get a Jump on Next Year’s Fire Safety
Bratwurst with Sauerkraut and Potatoes
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Ken Hansen, HPCC Treasurer
The HPCC continues to look toward the future needs of the community. To this end, we are working with the Fire District on a long-range plan for the Community Center and grounds. HPCC recognizes that it is a matter of when – and not if – a major fire, the Cascadia earthquake, landslides on Hwy 14 or some other natural disaster comes to our community. The Community Center is very well poised to provide a vital support function in the event of a local disaster and subsequent response. HPCC has plans to meet with the American Red Cross, who coordinate with local organizations to recognize community resources available for use in disasters. You may have noted the recent piles of dirt fill in the Community Center parking lot? These were provided by neighbors Bill and Lucy, who are building a seasonal home near us. These piles were recently graded by another neighbor, Andy Harmon, and his huge cat. These efforts have provided a flatter surface for not only routine event parking, but will also make the community space more usable for emergency uses such as tents or other community services. The goal is to have the Red Cross identify our facility as a resource for disaster planning. We intend to use this designation to greatly increase likelihood of receiving grant funding for needed upgrades to the kitchen.
Honestly, when I think about recent news to report from the High Prairie Community Council, little else but the upcoming Octoberfest (October 4th & 5th) comes to mind… Preparations have been occurring for months, and we are on the home stretch for what will be a first for High Prairie. Details will be discussed elsewhere in the High Prairian, but I encourage you to join your neighbors in what we expect to be an event you will not want to have missed. Remember, the profits of this event will be donated to Fire District #14, specifically for the purchase of upgrading and replacing specialized breathing apparatus. Think about the “what -if’s” if this equipment made the difference in our volunteers saving your loved one or neighbor from a smoky building…
We were all saddened to hear of the loss of our friend and neighbor Tom Doll. Tom was a special neighbor, and we had become friends over the few years I was privileged to know him. We shared many wonderful hours out fishing. He was very sharing of his time and there are many things I wish he had been able to share with me. I will always treasure the heartfelt conversation we shared just before his passing.
It should be noted that Tom and Lozetta have been longtime supporters of our community. Tom was very involved in the planning and creation of the eventual Community Center, as members of the High Prairie Neighborhood Association (what would later become HPCC). Local stories relate that Tom had particular skills at reading blueprints, and no-doubt “managed” the crews erecting the building. Later, he built much of the cabinetry in the kitchen. He will be greatly missed.
We look forward to seeing you at Octoberfest!
A funeral service was held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in White Salmon, Washington, on September 3, followed by burial with military honors at Lone Pine Cemetery on Hartland Road here in High Prairie. Afterward, family and friends shared an evening meal and memories of Tom at the High Prairie Community Center. We send Lozetta and her family all of our affection, sympathy and concern.
The High Prairie community has suffered the loss of one of its mainstays with the passing of Tom Doll. Tom had been in our thoughts and prayers for several months as he struggled with health problems that doctors didn’t identify until late in July. After a courageous fight, supported by family, Tom slipped quietly away on August 29. Tom had many close friends, and he was active in the community and in his neighborhood, where he earned the unofficial title of “Mayor of South Prairie.” He will be missed!
Additional memories of Tom appear later in this edition.
Tom Doll
Rods and reels, lines and tackle,
Boats, motors and tents,
All matters in hand, competitors we are.
The proud bass man and the old salt from Cortez,
The whiff of the worm man and the flasher chasing salmon,
The troller, the bobber, and the compleat angler.
The search begins for the elusive crappie,
An unlikely fish for the masters of their art
Who contrive their own method To outdo their opponents’ chart.
Up and down the darkening waves,
Drifters and trollers are checking all bays,
Bobbers, casters and baiters setting their hooks
As one should do whenever there is a duel.
The performance was magnificent
Each held his own during the days of hue
Bonded together in the pursuit of the helpless prey
In the canyon waters so blue.
Karen Beck
Vendors and shoppers take note: This year’s Annual Lyle Christmas Bazaar and Quilt Raffle is coming up on the 1st and 2nd of November. Hours are Friday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.–4 p.m. The sale will be held at the Lyle Activity Center (old grade school) at 3rd Street and Highway 14 in Lyle.
The Lyle Christmas Bazaar has been a holiday tradition for over 25 years. There are generally 15 to 25 vendors selling handmade crafts such as quilts and jewelry, baked goods, jellies, pickled beets, apple butter, and lots of other homemade items. A food vendor provides lunch for a reasonable price, and coffee, tea and cookies will be available for a donation or just to enjoy for free. At 5 pm on Saturday the quilt will be raffled off.
Vendor fees for tables are $15.00 for both days or $10.00 for one day. Table fees and the raffle proceeds are given to the Lyle Activity center for repairs or whatever they need it for.
For more information call 541-490-5673.
August 31 birthday party for Nance Carter included a fabulous potluck and barbecue, Nance’s hilarious homemade party hats (below), and a lively cast of characters.
Zifra Weber
Fall has long been the time to celebrate a bountiful harvest. On October 4th and 5th, the High Prairie Community Council invites you to come celebrate with us at Oktoberfest. These will be fun and relaxing days with live music, a beer garden, great food, vendors, and free activities for kids on Saturday. Proceeds from this event will help buy new respirators for High Prairie Fire District 14’s volunteer firefighters and support community activities. Many local beer, wine and food vendors have made generous donations to aid us in this.
Friday will open at 11 AM with vendors, a quilt sale and classic rock music by our DJ, “CJ”. Our volunteers are preparing Myrin’s Famous Brats with a tasty German potato salad. Golden fresh ears of corn straight from the farm, rolled in butter and topped with salt and pepper, are sure to make you smile.
At 2 PM on Friday we begin our live music with The Simcoe Boys. Known far and wide as “The Best Country and Western Dance Band in The County,” the music is sure to get you out on the dance floor.
At 5 PM The J. Andrews Band performs. Known for “The Smoothest Sound In The Gorge”, this is a relaxing way to watch the sun go down. At this time the Beer Garden opens, with German beer and local craft brews. Area vineyards have also donated many specialty wines for your enjoyment. Complementing our libations in the Beer Garden will be big hot pretzels and a cheese dip.
At 7 PM Restrung comes to the stage. Dance your way into the crisp fall night with their “Hot Country Rock.” Between the live sets will be German and Bavarian music to help you toast this traditional German harvest festival.
Saturday will begin at 11 AM with the opening of the Beer Garden, more good food, music and a special free kids’ area with games, crafts and lots of prizes. Parents will be able to leave children ages 6 and older with us while they enjoy the festival.
As the day opens, The Pearson Family Orchestra comes to the stage. This large family plays many diverse instrument as they perform their “Home Grown Bluegrass Music.” This family is truly one that plays together! The result is quite amazing.
At 3 PM we welcome to the stage The Honey Badgers. Their signature “Alt Country Bluegrass” will keep your feet moving as you enjoy the sunshine and maybe one more beer!
At 5 PM the kids’ area closes and all children will join their families again. (Children not picked up will be given an espresso and a free puppy!) This is also when we welcome to the stage The Neil Mangrum Band. Known as “Bluegrass and Country Wizards,” their music is truly magical.
The festival finishes with a performance at 7 PM by The Growlerz. This “Jam Band Supreme” will be the perfect way to finish out a long day of fun.
Admission to the festival is free. Oktoberfest will be held at the High Prairie Community Center, 701 Struck Road. Follow Centerville Highway out of Lyle or Goldendale and watch for the signs. For more information, to make a donation, or to volunteer to help, please call 509-310-9172.
OKTOBERFEST MUSICAL LINEUP
| Friday | ||
| 11 AM – 1 PM | DJ with CJ | “Classic Rock” – Music from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s” |
| 2 PM – 4 PM | The Simcoe Boys | “The Best C&W Dance Band in The County” |
| 5 PM – 6 PM | The J. Andrews Band | “The Smoothest Sound In The Gorge” |
| 7 PM – 9 PM | Restrung | “Hot Country Rock” |
| Saturday | ||
| 11 AM – 1 PM | The Pearson Family Orchestra | “Home Grown Bluegrass Music” |
| 1 PM – 3 PM | DJ with CJ | “Classic Rock” – Music from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s” |
| 3 PM – 4 PM | The Honey Badgers | “Alt Country Bluegrass” |
| 5 PM – 6 PM | The Neil Mangrum Band | “Great Bluegrass Music” |
| 7 PM – 9 PM | The Growlerz | “Jam Band Supreme” |
Thomas “Tom” Joseph Doll of Lyle (High Prairie) passed away peacefully on Aug. 29, 2019, at the age of 84, with his family by his side. He was born on Nov. 4, 1934, in Perham, Minn., to Edward and Mary Doll.
Tom received his bachelor of science in secondary education with a major in industrial arts from Northern Montana College and a master’s in education from Portland State University. He taught in the Montana Public Schools in 1957 and in the Oregon Public Schools from 1958 to 1968.
In 1969, he began working for the Oregon State Bureau of Labor as the apprenticeship and training director for four years before moving back to Montana in 1972, where he was superintendent of schools at Whitewater and Turner and thereafter in Monument, Ore.
After leaving the field of education he worked in home construction for a number of years where he started his own company, Trico Construction. Tom and Lozetta retired in 2000 and relocated to Lyle, where they have been blessed to enjoy family, friends, the outdoors, and their incredible community.
Tom Doll leaves his wife, Lozetta, whom he married in 1959, and his children Frances (Gary) Brastrup, Tim Doll, Calvin Doll, and Eugene Doll. He was the grandfather of eight grandchildren and the great-grandfather of five great-grandchildren. He is survived also by his sister Marie Griffith of Stayton, Ore., and brother Willie (Cheri) Doll of Malta, Mont., sisters-in-law Muriel Doll and Monica Doll, numerous nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews.
Preceding him in death are brothers Adrian (Dorothy), Vernon, Don, and Herb, and sisters Rose (Romy) Wegschied, Pauline (John) Craig, and Joan (Leo) Tapia.
Lozetta Doll
There’s a story behind Tom’s shop and how it came about that we ended up retiring here in High Prairie. In the early 1990s, anticipating the end of our working years and wanting to get out of the city, we started looking for property in the vicinity of White Salmon. Every few months we would spend a day driving around, looking at places we could not afford. A friend then told us to look a little further east and one weekend in 1994 we made an offer on a six-acre wooded lot in Appleton, and an abandoned, unfinished cabin in High Prairie.
Since we were a few years away from actually being able to retire, we would come up on weekends, clearing a house site on the Appleton property, and fixing up the High Prairie cabin. I liked both areas and couldn’t make up my mind so the question, “Where to retire?” remained in limbo. Finally, tired of my vacillation, Tom ordered his shop, and gave me a few days to make up my mind where it was to be put.
The shop was referred to by some of the neighbors as Tom’s True Value. Often a trip to town would not be necessary because Tom had just the right piece of wood, a bolt, or length of PVC pipe. It became a gathering place for barbecues and meetings, assembling bluebird houses and craft projects, making fishing lures, and just shooting the breeze.
This past summer our family cleared out the shop and moved most of it to Idaho for a future garage sale. I swept it out this week, vacuumed out drawers and wiped off the work benches. It was comforting to work a few hours there where he had spent so much time and been so productive. After I got done, however, I looked around and thought that there’s something not quite right about a shop that is too clean. But there it stands, quiet and empty, awaiting whatever comes next.
Galway Kinnell
I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words
like strengths or squinched,
many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps,
which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry-eating in late September.
Fire Chief Tim Darland
We are not completely out of the woods yet, but we have been very fortunate to keep wild land fires at bay this summer on the Prairie. This certainly does not mean our firefighters haven’t been busy. The High Prairie Fire Department has responded to 74 calls as of September 15 and is on track for a normal call volume this calendar year.
I wanted to send a few reminders as we traverse into the fall season.
Washington Surveying Ratings Bureau (WSRB) has adjusted the Protection Class (PC) ratings for those residents within 5 road miles of Station 2 located at 288 Schilling Rd. The new PC 8A rating will take effect as of August 1, 2019. This is the same rating that residents receive within 5 road miles of Station 1 located at Struck Rd. Be sure to check with your home owner’s insurance company to ensure you are receiving the PC 8A rating for a reduced rate.
The burn ban remains in place until midnight September 30. After that, please follow the outdoor burning requirements listed below. In the event the Fire Department gets called to an out of control burn pile, firefighters will be assessing the scene to ensure all outdoor burning requirements have been met. You may be responsible to pay costs if your burn pile is extinguished by the Fire Department.
Outdoor Burning Requirements:
1. Fire size no larger than 10 foot diameter, only burn one pile at a time.
2. Minimum five (5) gallons water, shovel, fire extinguisher and/or charged garden hose.
3. Fire is built on bare soil.
4. Debris that can be burned: natural wood products, non-treated lumber scraps, trimmings, clippings, and natural vegetation. (Citations are issued due to this violation in Klickitat Co.)
5. Ditch and fence line burning can be done in 10’ X 10’ sections at a time with adequate water to put out area burned. The next 10’ X 10’ section can then be lit. Caution: Must have containment lines such as roads, driveways, plowed fields, or hand trails down to mineral soil.
6. Burn barrels are not approved. WAC 173-425. (Citations are issued due to this violation in Klickitat Co.)
7. In the event of air inversions, it is recommended by DOE to monitor media coverage for our area. If an inversion has occurred, stop burning until DOE has lifted restrictions.
(For more information, contact DOE 1-800-406-5322. Website: http://www.ecy. wa.gov)
8. Agriculture burns must be approved by DOE by calling 1-509-575-2490.
9. Minimum of 50 feet from any structure.
10. Fire must be attended to at all times.
If an outdoor fire started by you escapes, you may be responsible for paying costs associated with the extinguishment of that fire.
On a personal note, I want to send condolences to the family and friends of Gwen Berry, Glenna Scott and Lozetta Doll. My heart goes out to each of you for your loss.
Sunset. Photo: Peg Caliendo
Dillacort Canyon mushrooms. Photo: Peg Caliendo
September sight. Photo: Gwen Berry
Barn and full moon. Photo: Peg Caliendo
Tom McMackin
As you begin this Fall/Winter’s outside chores, it’s a good idea to start planning and do some ground work to be ready for the 2020 fire season. Fall is an excellent time to revisit the ‘defensible space’ concepts that are part of the FireWise and Ready, Set, Go! programs. These fire buffer zones are calculated for the average residential house and are set at 5’/30’/100’ from the foundation wall outward, all the way around a given structure.
Many normal Fall chores will also help prepare the 0’-5’ Home Ignition Zone, since a shower of embers or sparks is very much like a rain shower:
Contact me, Tom McMackin, if you’d like more information on the ‘FireWise’ and ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ programs; have comments or suggestions; would like to be more involved with the High Prairie FireWise effort; or want to get connected with the resources we have available as a recognized FireWise Community. Email me at firewise.onhighprairie@gmail.com or leave a phone message at 509-365-2786.
Online FireWise resources:
FireWise – http://www.firewise.org or http://www.firewise.org/ wildfire-preparedness/be-firewise/home-and-landscape.aspx
Ready, Set, Go! – http://www.wildlandfirersg.org or http://www. wildlandfirersg.org/Resident
Useful strategy for listing time and priority tasks for evacuation action: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4EjTfXhwMcwelFqUFUydEQzR3M/view
Rebecca Sonniksen
The High Prairie Chapter of the MAMA Club (Men’s Action Movie Association) took its first off-site meeting August 23 to Paine Field Airport in Everett, Washington. Members of the newly formed chapter, which originated in Portland, include Scott Sonniksen, club founder, Tom McMackin, trip planner, Ted McKercher, Ben Parrish, Tom Rodrigues, and Rob Taylor. The itinerary for this two-day trip included a visit to the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) and attendance at the museum’s Luftwaffe Fly Day.
FHCAM is a fascinating place – a rare private collection of WWII era aircraft, tanks, combat armor and other technologies, along with interactive multimedia exhibits to provide context. In 1998, Paul G. Allen began acquiring and preserving the armor and planes displayed at the museum, many of which are the last of their kind. Included are military artifacts from the United States, Britain, Germany, Soviet Union, and Japan. They have been painstakingly restored to working condition and returned to as close to their original state as possible.
FHCAM hosts events such as the annual Luftwaffe Fly Day throughout the year so the public can “hear, smell, feel and watch history come to life.” The focus of the Luftwaffe Fly Day is to spotlight their collection of World War II German aircraft. One of the highlights of this year’s show was a fly-by that included a Storch, FW 190, BF 109, Hurricane and a Spitfire.
For two of MAMA’s members there was a personal connection to the historic planes at FHCAM. During WWII, Sonniksen’s father flew as a crew member in a B-29 and McMackin’s father flew as a crew member in a B-24.
The trip also included a drive up the beautiful Yakima Canyon and a sampling of local cuisine with dinner at The Palace Cafe in Ellensburg, Washington. Members hope to make this an annual event.
(click/tap for enlarged view)
October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
—George Cooper
Get in the Oktoberfest spirit with this recipe from the website GERMAN CULTURE:
Ingredients:
450 g (16 oz) sauerkraut (1 can), drained
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 onion, sliced thin
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
½ cup dry white wine
8 bratwurst sausages
1 cup chicken stock
10 medium-sized potatoes
Preparation:
