I knew there was something in the air, something lacking to which I should have been responding.
Deep thoughts into the matter brought out the fact that, this year, my mailbox hasn't provided a single catalog of plants and flowers that would normally already have been planted safely and lovingly into the ground surrounding my otherwise spotless abode.
In the past, there was always a plethora of such things in my mailbox each spring. A column I wrote in the spring of 2009 mentioned 37 of them that year. Why did they stop coming? Could have been because I cannot remember ever having purchased anything from the pages of those enticing documents?
But, after all, why should I have done so?
Most of the specimens were suitable for other parts of our nation and I think you have found out by this time in your life that the Pacific Northwest weather differs from just about any other place in our country. Besides, we always had local stores where we could purchase anything we needed.
The Moeller family moved into Lewis County near the end of 1960 and, although we lived on the Curtis Hill Road for a few years before we changed our ZIP code to Centralia's, there were always Kaija's in Chehalis run by Arvo Kaija, and Jimmy and his brother Otmar Vogle's store, Pioneer West, in Centralia.
A funny thing about those two stores is that, while they could have been working against each other, they took the “small town” attitude of working together.
A good example is something that you really old-time listeners might remember from the days before politics became the only topic broadcast on too many radio stations: a weekly half-hour program on KELA where Jimmy and Arvo spent the time answering questions phoned in by listeners and giving advice on just about any aspect of growing a home garden.
It was a sheer delight.
Yes, it would probably be considered pretty corny by today's standards. And by the time when I joined KELA, Jerry Kaija had replaced his dad at the microphone, but, in my opinion, there was no letup in the quality of those summertime gems.
That was only one of the locally produced programs that could be heard back then and it would likely be lost in today's world.
They certainly weren't considered sophisticated or “cool” as we learned to say in the 60s. I guess “neighborly” would be the best description. I mentioned in a column, 10 years or so ago, that when I was involved in radio broadcasting, there was a federal law stating where a single person or group could only claim ownership to a maximum of seven stations.
It made sense. It prevented individuals or groups from dominating the airways.
Then, a political party that shall remain nameless became dominant in both houses of Congress and the rule was changed so that any group or individual could buy ownership in as many stations as they wanted.
Talk radio took command, and in this old codger's mind, the world is a poorer place because of it.
The emphasis has changed from “let's make a better world” to “anybody who doesn't agree with what we call the truth should be shut up in a closet somewhere.”
I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I liked the “old days” when our local community could interact and present ideas about political perspectives, current events and how to succeed in our gardens.
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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.
