Washington Voices

Fabian Napolsky is driven to paint. Mixing color with water is not a hobby for the artist, it’s a challenging, fulfilling and exciting creative process that expands beyond the edges of the paper. “There is a huge spiritual quality to creating art,” he said. “It encompasses the world and has a certain energy.”

Q:Five people having breakfast at Dave’s Bar and Grill, 12124 E. Sprague Ave. in Spokane Valley, were asked: “When you’re sick, do you stay home or go to work?”

Bolt arrived at SCRAPS on Sept. 21. He is a 2-year-old neutered male.  He loves belly rubs, and volunteers think he is housebroken, too. He has a noncontagious skin condition that will need follow-up care with a veterinarian.  He gets along well with cats and dogs, is easy on leash and loves to go for walks. Please refer to the pet’s ID number when contacting SCRAPS with questions about one of the adoptable pets. If you are interested in this dog or any animal at SCRAPS, call (509) 477-2532 or come by the shelter at 2421 N. Flora Road, Spokane Valley. Dog adoptions are $87.04 and include spay or neuter, first set of vaccinations, health check, microchip and first year’s license.  

The national economy added more than 100,000 jobs in September. To jobseekers that’s good news, but it’s no guarantee that one of the coveted jobs is within reach. Take the Spokane man who went to apply for a job at a local gas station. He was qualified for the job. He had a résumé. It all seemed possible until the clerk told him he had to fill out an application online. Since the man didn’t own a computer, the clerk may as well have told him not to apply for the job.

Sometimes there’s a sadness that’s hard to shake. I find myself there right now, and I wonder how many Baby Boomers find themselves there, too. Others older and younger experience similar things, of course, but since so many of us Boomers are hitting the big six-five now, we are a statistically significant lot, and there may be something of a critical mass gathering here.

Hog butchering might not be your idea of a great first date, but it certainly leaves a lasting impression. When Wayne Hull met a pretty girl named Karen at a Grange dance in Cheney in 1949, he knew he wanted to see her again.

Jessica Root, the swing manager at the Spokane Valley McDonald’s, 10516 E. Sprague Ave., was recently recognized for her talent at the microphone, when she was named one of the 22 semifinalists in her employers’ fourth Voice of McDonald’s global singing contest. In a press release from McDonald’s, Root said “This is an incredible opportunity for me and I’m so honored to have been chosen as a semifinalist. Working at McDonald’s has given me a chance to grow on so many levels, both personally and professionally. I can’t wait to share my passion for singing with a global audience.”

Two dozen volunteers thinned ponderosa pine trees and trimmed branches on the South Hill bluff on Sunday in a demonstration project for reducing fire risk. “The idea is to manage the forest so a fire would be limited to burning grass and brush on the ground rather than blowing up into a crown fire that would destroy lots of trees and put neighborhood homes at risk,” said Erik Sjoquist, Washington State University-Spokane County Extension forester.

There are three tiny little towns in the area you won’t find on any map. Trains pull through the towns, announcing their approach with whistles. Lights twinkle from the buildings. The towns, Bakersville, New City and Cobbleton, are part of a 25-foot-by-60-foot layout for the Evergreen Railroad Modelers’ HO gauge railroad.