There's something fishy

Lance Winecka uses a stuffed toy salmon and a bag full of real salmon eggs as visual aids for a lesson about conservation he recently gave to third- graders on the banks of Lynch Creek. Brett Bishop, who manages a shellfish farm that invited the kids to explore the shores, counted 6,606 salmon there last December.

Bless this house

Pastor Frank Woodall of Faith Lutheran Church leads the gathering in prayer before blessing the future homesite of the Ron Mortenson family with the following words: "With faith in Jesus Christ this work is begun and this house blessed in his name." Work on the house has just been begun by the Mortensons and Habitat for Humanity of Mason County, a faith-based group that has helped build nine previous homes for people who might not otherwise be able to afford homes of their own. With his Bible in hand, Woodall also quoted Chapter 24, verses 3-4 of The Book of Proverbs: "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."

STUDENTS FROM Pioneer School tour land along Skookum Creek owned by Skookum Shellfish and the Bishop family. Pictured clockwise from the top are: students lining up to hear a presentation on composting by Mason County Recycling Coordinator Shannon McClelland; Tabitha Schwerzler builds a birdhouse; Cody Tratnick shows his finished product; Taylor Stroud listening to McClelland; Jim Front of Lusignan Forestry talking about the trees; treetops reaching for the sky; and Caitlin Braymer using yarn to show how the food chain works. The program was sponsored by the Mason Conservation District. Photos are by Barbara Allison Hanlon.

Write on for reading!

An adult supervisor has a happy moment and children play with paint at a weekend reading program held recently at Evergreen Elementary School. Sue Barnard, a teacher and leader for the district's Language Arts Curriculum Adoption Team, and Debbie Wing, the district's director of teaching and learning, recently addressed the Shelton School Board about the kindergarten through fifth-grade reading program. "The key difference is instruction. Our teachers are going to be better prepared to work with whatever materials they have," Barnard said of the program. The overall cost of the recommended program is $162,394.59 with an additional $70,148 in materials to be supplied by the publisher, Harcourt Brace.

STANDING TALL under the bright Arizona sun is former Shelton resident John Clayton. The 1977 Shelton High School grad is changing careers at midlife, aiming to become a firefighter, then a paramedic.

TERI KING, in the canoe, and Janis McNeal, in the kayak, wave boat flags announcing the fact that they have State of the Oyster Study and other water-quality information during a unique dock-to-dock informational campaign on Saturday.