2014 has been a busy year for me and my family as well as things here at Swauk-Teanaway Grange. Our daughter Jenny and her husband Josh and our grandsons Leo and Isaac moved up to Ellensburg from Eugene, Oregon. We now get to be hands-on grandparents and we are absolutely loving it! And our son Adam and his wife Claire moved to Seattle from Eugene. Having our family so close – the drive to Eugene was almost 7 hours – is wonderful.
That’s not the only big change for us however. We are adding on much-needed space to our tiny cabin. Construction started in June and we are now water-tight and will work on the project through the winter. It could not have come at a better time, we need more space with the kids close by.
Life at the Grange has been busy as well. If you’ve been at the hall lately you’ll have noticed there’s a new building in the back that will house our riding lawn mower and other supplies. Thank you, thank you thank you to Dennis Giannotti who designed and cut the pieces and worked with Kurt Lucke, Chuck Johnson and Bruce von Normann to put it together, and thanks to Dale Rusho for getting the primer on it. Speaking of lawn mower, thank you again to Dennis for faithfully cutting the grass every Thursday before a wedding this summer and to Bill Lloyd for coming up to make sure the grass was watered and stayed green through one of the hottest summers on record! Other projects at the hall were to jack up the front stairs – thank you Chuck, and to repair the front door latch – Dennis once again. Kudos to Jim Gylling for welding together a beautiful and sturdy steel cart for the electric grill we received from Menastash Grange. Kurt repaired the electric connection on it and cleaned it – no easy task – and we will be using it at the Hunters Breakfast on Saturday. Thank you to all who came out to clean the basement and move supplies from the main floor to our secure storage room downstairs. We’re a lot more organized now thanks to everyone’s help. Thank you to everyone who has contributed their time and talents to keeping our Grange Hall so well taken care of, it would not happen without each and every one of you!