Cooper Landing
Good morning.
Kent and Melanie Bowman hosted the Pinochle Club at Bowman's Bear Creek Lodge and Cafe on the Hope Road on May 20. Fifteen members and guests met at Bowman's for the dinner and awards night. J.B. Weber and Gladys Nichols are club managers.
Helen Gwin hosts the Friday night games at her house, following former hosts Rusty Halvorson, and Spike and Bug Edwards. The community hall is also used occasionally for game nights since the club began in 1986. The club takes a break during June, July and August but impromptu games are called.
Since an awards dinner was not held last year, Gladys had statistics and prizes for two years. Jo Cox and Nick Lemieux received prizes for the lowest scores recorded. Instead of crying towels, they received boxes of tissues in handmade holders. Pinkie Richardson and I were surprised to win awards for achieving the highest scores. Pinkie edged out the next highest player last year by one point.
For several weeks during the winter, we played six-handed pinochle and that was pretty lively. Gladys had the lowest score for those games with J.B. achieving the highest, a difference in scores of about 1,200 points.
The most consistent winner was Jean Romig with a total of 14 wins. Perley and Caroll Jones received a gift, a red lantern, for traveling the farthest to attend the dinner. Flowers and thanks were delivered to Helen Gwin, who was unable to attend the dinner.
Steve and Rosie Banse were celebrated Sunday during the Kenai Lake Baptist Church regular service and at a community potluck afterward at the community hall. Steve now works for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in Anchorage and the Banse's are moving nearer to his office.
Steve and Rosie have over 20 years combined service as church officers and Steve was also a community club officer. They were active in the school and community when their older daughters went to school here.
Phillip Miller, Dennis Fair, and helpers served up 40 pounds of deep-fried halibut, ala Mack McConnell during the dinner. True to form, Rosie mopped the community hall floor after the cleanup.
Casilyn Dreifuerst, one of Skyview High School's three valedictorians, and fellow honor student Matthew Smith received their diplomas at last week's graduation ceremony. Casilyn will attend Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. She's a math whiz, I heard, and interested in engineering.
Couldn't reach the Smiths so I will check later to learn about Matthew's plans.
Jan Mitchell and her scorekeeping crew, Carla Britton, Mary Dreifuerst, Barbara Anderson, Mayme Ohnemus, Chris Farrington and announcer Linda Petersen met over lunch at Kenai Princess Lodge to discuss their jobs and schedules for the softball tournament now underway at the community center.
Michelle Stewart's Cooper Landing ambulance concessions workers will keep food service available every night during the games, which begin at 7 p.m.
Their raffles of donated items will keep things lively around the community hall as well as on the softball field.
The 26th annual Snug Harbor Road Snail-a-thon May 21 was a different experience this year. A fund-raiser for the community club and its properties, the picnic at the Snail-a-thon site on Kenai Lake was always the culmination of the activity. Jack Britton, Kim Mlynarik, Kemarrae Mlynarik, Koebryn Mlynarik and I went up to clean the picnic site two days in advance and post the reserved sign.
It was disappointing to find that lovely beach littered with glass shards and .22 and .44 calibre shell casings as well as other garbage. Eight bags of garbage. What was even worse was the missing outhouse which appeared to have been burnt in fires judging by the nails and a hinge found in the burn residue.
After much discussion, the Snail-a-thon picnic was moved to the community center and the walking and biking activities re-routed to head that way.
When I drove to the picnic site on the beach to remove the reserved sign, I found two tent camps and five vehicles in place. Hope they enjoyed the clean beach and left it the same. I am happy to report that donations exceeded $1,000 within a week of the activity.
While heading for Soldotna last Tuesday evening near Mile 72, Larry and I watched with wide eyes and camera in hand as a big black bear burst out of the trees and lumbered across the road in front of us.