Tidbits, July 19

Electric skies

It's become a common sight for all of us over the past month: watching bright, sharp bolts of lightning crack in the sky over our small towns day and night. As of this writing early Tuesday morning, wildfires have burned up more than 3,000 combined acres since July 13, just between the Foster Creek Fire and the Douglas County Complex Fire. With such strong thunderstorm activity this summer, it's hard not to wonder how much more Mother Nature has in store for us over the next month and a half or so. As always, kudos and gratitude goes to the volunteers not only in our Quad City communities, but to those who come here from other fire districts and state agencies to help get the fires under control.

Familiar faces in new places

Almost three weeks ago, Laura Christian spent her last day as Pateros School District's principal. After six years with the school, she had resigned effective June 30 and was bid an emotional and fond farewell at the Class of 2012's graduation ceremony earlier in the month. In the July 12 edition of The Times, a newspaper based in Waitsburg, Wash., Christian made front page news as the new principal of the Starbuck School District. According to the article, she will teach part-time and perform her administrative duties part-time.

As for Pateros students, when they walk through the front doors Aug. 28 on the first day of school, they'll be greeted by new Principal Mike Hull. A coach and teacher at Pateros for 30 years, Hull is no stranger to his students.

Canned food pressure

The Washington State University Okanogan County Extension is offering to check pressure canner dial gauges for those who can their own food at home.

"Margaret Viebrock, WSU Extension educator, recommends that home canners have their pressure canner dial gauges checked each year to assure safety in home canning. An inaccurate gauge could mean home canned vegetables, fish and meat would not be safe to eat," reads a news release the Herald received last week.

You can take your gauges to the WSU Extension office, Room 101 in the Okanogan County Courthouse, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Brewster: The app

How many iPhone users out there have tested the new "Brewster" app? It has made news as the latest and greatest way to organize your contacts.

"Using Brewster helps you visualize the people you contact most and points out those you don't," according to Kevin Smith, reporter for BusinessInsider.com. "Brewster automatically organizes all of your contacts from your address book, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Gmail making it easier to find your most contacted friends."

Area residents with an affection for social media networking may get a kick out of using an app that shares a local name, and from what we've read, it's useful, too.

Annie Amerika update

When we last left off with Annie Amerika - the patriotic persona of Bridgeport's Gale Wilkison - she had just marked her 30th day on the road from Cedar Point, N.C. Annie is still going strong in her mission to replace worn American flags at the residences of rural homes across the United States.

While in North Carolina, she visited some family and friends of herself and her late husband, John. On July 12, Annie hosted a ride-along with three young friends and a TV news reporter named David as she searched for the 41st and 42nd homes to receive crisp, free flags.

Annie and her crew ended up in Matthews, N.C., where she presented flags to Army veteran Maurice and Air Force veteran Simon. Her good deed didn't go unpunished, as her feet were bitten by some red ants while raising the flag for Simon.

That same day, Annie gave a flag to the Dire Wolves MC clubhouse, then traveled to a place called Tumble Weeds to meet with a Patriot Guard named C.W. He gave Annie a flag he flew for 20 missions, she wrote on her Facebook page, "and one flag that was just flown today in honor of the fallen Airmen who came home to Charlotte today."

Then began the journey back from the East Coast. Annie spent much of July 12 traveling to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tenn., where she spent the rest of the day fishing and recuperating from triple-digit temperatures with her campsite hosts, Margaret and Phil.

Not every day is a success when it comes to flag distribution, Annie noted July 13, after visiting three towns with no luck.

"Today I stopped in Pigeon Forge TN, very touristy and not many homes, I guess I was looking for Dolly to be walking around," Annie wrote July 13 in her blog. "Anyway, today was one of those days I drove for hours looking to give away a flag. The day I went to a home and nobody was there, it does happen. It was just one of those days." She ended the day with a visit with her aunt and uncle in Fairfield Glade, Tenn., after seeing the world's largest Rubik's Cube in Knoxville. For the first time in 36 days, Annie wrote, she got to sleep in a bed inside a house rather than in her 1985 Chevy camper van.

On Saturday, Annie gave away two flags in Columbia, Tenn., then stopped for a bite in Waynesboro, where she met a group of war veterans.

"It seemed most were WWII Veterans because one talked about chasing French women, and another replied but he never caught one. It was so much fun talking to them," she wrote.

As with Mount Rushmore and the Rubik's Cube, Annie makes time for seeing landmarks of our country, be they majestic or kitschy. On Sunday she wrote, "5,677.8 miles to Graceland! Good Morning Memphis. Sunrise was at 5:15AM. At 7AM it was 67 degrees, warm with an overcast. Today I tour Graceland."

Though she had a "wonderful time" at Graceland, touring "all things Elvis," Annie was disappointed to note she didn't see any homes boasting the American flag while driving around Memphis. On Tuesday, before the Herald's deadline, she headed into Arkansas with plans to give away two flags before moving on to Mississippi.

Annie posts many more pictures and musings on her Facebook page and blog throughout the week. Follow along at annieamerika2012.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/AnnieAmerika2012.

On this day in history July 19

1525: The Catholic princes of Germany formed the Dessau League to fight against the Protestant Reformation.

1553: Fifteen-year-old Lady Jane Grey was deposed as queen of England after claiming the crown for nine days. Mary, the daughter of King Henry VIII, was proclaimed queen.

1799: The Rosetta Stone, a tablet with hieroglyphic translations into Greek, was found in Egypt. A popular language teaching software program now bears the same name.

1848: The first women's rights convention, called by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia C. Mott, was held in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

1941: Winston Churchill was the first to use the two-finger "V is for Victory" sign.

1943: During World War II, more than 150 B-17 and 112 B-24 bombers attacked Rome for the first time.

1966: Fifty-year-old singer Frank Sinatra married 21-year-old actress Mia Farrow.

1974: The House Judiciary Committee recommended that U.S. President Richard Nixon should stand trial in the Senate for any of the five impeachment charges against him.

1984: Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman nominated for the vice-presidency by a major political party.

1993: President Clinton announced the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military. In 2010, the policy was repealed, but didn't officially end until September 2011.