Names of the moon, chamber activities, bird count

By Darla Buckhannon

Happy birthday to Lee Powers, Tula Eskew, Gabe Hanks, Jeanette Eftink, Nancy Spies, Maxine Haney, Mallory Estes, Ashley Siebert, Leigh Ann Denbow, Courtnie Harris, Tyler Acey, David Garland, Jackie Bader, Logan Hornback, Kristy Pobst, Karen Davis, Gene Knotts, Margaret Poinsett, Karen Rice, Jordan Duncan and Joyce Loucks.

A special happy anniversary to Ralph and Fimble Enderle who celebrate 50 years of marriage Saturday, Feb. 24.

We welcome the month of March Thursday, and it arrives with a full moon. The moon is known as Worm Moon, Moon of Winds, Sleepy Moon and Moon When Eyes are Sore from Bright Snow. The month of March is Irish American Month, Music in Our Schools Month, Nutrition Month, Social Workers Month and National Women's History Month.

Legacy Hospice will be at the Senior Center this Friday at 10:30 a.m. to check blood pressures and sugar levels. While you are noting events such as the opening of the Chaffee Drive-in Monday, March 5, the return to Daylight Saving Time March 11 and Good Friday March 30, skip over to September and mark Sept. 29, the date for the CHS Alumni Banquet at the VFW.

The Chamber of Commerce has launched its membership drive. The Chamber sponsors such activities as Helping Hands, German Days, Residence of the Month, City Wide Yard Sale, Christmas Parade and Street Decorations, FBLA Sponsorship, Ribbon Cuttings, tree plantings and college scholarships. Individuals can join for as little as $15 per year and businesses start at $35 up depending on gross sales. Businesses are listed at no charge on the Chamber's website. The Chamber meets the second Wednesday of each month usually at noon, with various businesses sponsoring the meeting and providing lunch. You are invited to attend.

The next meeting is March 14 at 5 p.m. at Bank of Advance. You may send your dues or donations to P.O. Box 35, Chaffee 63740 with checks payable to the Chaffee Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber held a ribbon cutting recently to welcome A Simply Different Salon at 112 W. Yoakum.

Our 70-degree weather last week had us all thinking spring then the wind popped up out of the north and some snowflakes fell. We don't mind the false starts that give us a break from the cold. Thousands of geese are heading north, and they have had a strong tail wind. Just last week, Richard and I saw our first groundhog of the season. No robin, the harbinger of spring, sightings yet, but they'll surely appear any day. One reader said a sure sign of spring is the first day of the St. Louis Cardinals' spring training in Florida.

Opening day is March 29 in New York. Another reader said a sure sign of spring is the return to Daylight Saving Time. A sign of spring in Dallas, Texas, is when the big white pelicans leave White Rock Lake to summer in the north. Seeing the pelicans hunt and fish in the lake has always been one of our favorite sights.

Did you participate in the Audubon Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 16 through the 19? It was free and fun to count birds during a 15-minute time period each day. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation's calendar, it is time to put out nest boxes for bluebirds. Richard spotted a pair checking ours out last week!

We always enjoy watching Paul Schnare, aka as Dr. Grow, on KFVS-12. but we often miss him because he comes on around 6:15 on Saturday mornings. I am usually up around that time but not always ready to turn on the television as I like the peace and quiet of the early morning. So now I record it.

We hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day. Jae Hopkins tells me that the tradition in Japan is for girls to give the guys candy and chocolate on Valentine's Day. He adds that the boys reciprocate on March 14 which is called White Day; a day on which they have to give the girls twice the amount of candy/chocolates they were given. That could get expensive if the guy is popular with the gals and, what if he receives candy from a girl he doesn't like?

Remember to tell those special people in your life that you love them -- those three words mean so much.

Email your news to darbuck2@airmail.net or call (573) 887-6430 or (214) 207-7839.

Then there was the state bird that leaves in the winter.