Finally, the Cascade Shores Mini Mart is open

Yeah, the store is reopened. Right now it's groceries, lotto, propane, beverages. Not sure what will be done with the cafe part. Wishing them success. It will be nice to pick up the little items without a trip to town. Drop in and say hi! They would like to know what the community would like to see them stock.
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Again, the annual meeting is Sat. at 1pm. Don't let the moisture keep you away. Hot dogs and beverages for all. Meet your 2010 Cascade Shores Homeowners Board.

snow falling on cedars, pt 2

Wow, got 1 1/2 - 2" fresh powder overnight. Is this the last visit from winter? Got up at 8:30 to see the highway patrol and tow truck on the bottom of big hill, trying to upright a small truck on it's roof. About 5 teens in the car hit a snow patch going UP the hill, and ran up the bank and flipped her over. The road looked pretty clean to me, so not sure you can blame the hill on this one. Be careful out there.
I'm just back from 7 days in Eugene, ORE with family, and 2 days visiting a friend in Redding from my "former life" (meaning when I was a workerbee at New York Life Ins. for 29!!! years). My Redding friend says all her neighbors (type of place that has 5 acre lots) are from the Bay Area. She took me on a walking tour, and got to meet the whole hood. I was amazed at the value you can get there. 5 oak covered acres, beautiful executive homes with all the bells and whistles, for around $250k. WOW. Beautiful views in all directions of Mt. Shasta and Lassen, and only about 5 minutes to Shasta Lake. I'll be returning! We once owned the same type of property, over in Kelsey, on the other side of Auburn, 3 miles from the American River Canyon. Sold it for this house, and never looked back. Of course, it was wonderful to get home, and see the London type fog lifting in our beautiful pines, and now, one last visit from old man winter. The more I see out there, the more I appreciate what we have here in Nevada County. The beauty of here is that we share it with so few people. Room to move . . . . although once again my apricot tree just bloomed, and now the fragile little flowers are frozen. Another year without apricots (no, I did not plant it).
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SATURDAY, 1PM AT FIREHOUSE is the annual CSHA meeting and installation of the 4 new board members. Hot chocolate, hot dogs and lemonade being served. Please come and meet your new board, and say goodbye to the old. There will also be a representative of Surburban Propane, and I am hoping the new store owner can come. Rumor is the store is reopening 2-MORROW.

New look for website!

Wow, Chuck Jaffee has really jumped in with both feet, to make a more user friendly website. Check it out. Links work better, there is a great map of CS, and he has updated things nicely. For those of you who (unfortunately) did not receive the last newsletter (it happens) it is always posted on cascadeshores.org.
To Anon. who suggested that I extend my 4' fence (all 600 feet of it!) to keep Jenna in, thanks but that's not the problem. The problem is that visitors and workers sometimes don't catch the importance of closing the gate IMMEDIATELY, as she's a quick one! She doesn't go over the fence. When we rescued Jenn from the NC shelter, we realized soon that God wanted us to have her, as no one else would put up with her antics and gypsy soul (probably why she landed in jail in the first place, by the way, with 5 nice buckshot pellets in her butt). Happily, the "break outs" are few and far between, and it takes less time to round her up. It's just the little game she plays with Mom and Dad. Anyone else she'll walk right up to! The little darlin'. Many thanks for Denise, the mail lady, who if she saw Jenn running in the early days, would drive her mail truck right into our yard with the dog in hot pursuit. Worked like a charm. Remember Doug in the movie UP? That's our Jenn, Squirrel, SQUIRREL, S-Q-U-I-R-R-E-L!

Is it really spring??

Wow, 3 amazing days in a row. It's so beautiful out, my Jenna Dog has felt the need to"escape" all 3 days, romping happily thru the neighbors woods with me running behind waiving peanut butter laden cookies, sometimes in my PJ's, trying to entice her back (she's suicidal you know. runs right in front of snow plows and fed ex trucks). I'm sure the neighbors are quite entertained. This morning I was at Anna Rees house making lemon curd (she makes the best) when I got the phone call. Phil, "YOUR dog's out." Me: "why is she MY dog when she's running amok, and YOUR dog when she's snuggled on the couch?" Phil: "Better get her. Mail lady is on the way" (Jenna will follow the mail truck for blocks trying to stop it. After all, it has the dog bones inside). So off I ran, cookies in my PJ pockets, sliding in oversized bedroom slippers, always 50 feet behind her. I finally gave up the pointless exercise, and went back to Anna's, leaving a cookie crumb trail right up to her kitchen door. BINGO. 30 seconds after I went inside, Jenna was at the door, I assume looking for the source of the cookie crumbs. It's so satisfying knowing I am at least occasionally smarter than an animal that has a brain the size of a WALNUT.
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Amazing Deer sighting

Went to Bridgeport with Sue, hiked the Buttermilk Trail, which takes you about 100 ft above the Yuba River. It was so hot we decided to take a trail down to the river to cool off and let Jasper the dog have a drink. While we were basking on boulders, we sighted a very young deer jump right into the river about 200 yds up stream. The water is COLD AND FAST, and we watched in dread as the young doe approached the rapids. I could not imagine she could survive the wicked white ice water. Low and behold, when she got to the drop off, she tucked in and rode it out, disappearing below the water for about 5 seconds, then popping up just in time to swim sideways to a beach area. She then jumped out, shook off, and leaped up the steep hillside. It was AMAZING. What a pro. I don't think she had any doubt, but we were holding our breath the whole time. When we hiked back to the main trail, a group of concerned hikers asked what happened to her, as they had seen her enter the water to avoid them on the trail, but couldn't make her out in the water. We were happy to report she made it safely back to solid ground. Whew!
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The wildflowers are just starting to show at Bridgeport. Couple of more weeks. Did you notice that the daffodils are in bloom on Hwy 49. You know, my friend Lynn Donald of Indian Hills Flower Farm started that daffodil planting program many years ago. Every year when I see them pop their sunny heads up I think of her. Thank you Lynn!

I know it's still officially winter, but

spring is literally in the air. Walked out into the yard at 7pm 2nite, and definitely smelled bloomin flowers coming from somewhere around the neighborhood. I'm off to Bridgeport tomorrow to hike the Buttermilk trail, where I am hoping at least some of the wildflowers are showing their face.
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Went to the Google rally Sunday with Dixie (her wearing the cook GOLD lady ga-ga wig, so easy to spot). Had lots of time to see who/what's new in Nevada City. Cheese shop on commercial shop gone, used kids clothing coming in. Tortilla Grill gone, Kabob's taking it's place. Fresh fish shop opening on Pine St (across from Pine St. Cafe). The owner is a guy I went thru grammer, jr, high and high school in El Cerrito with, Eric Juell. This is his 2nd store. The other is off Whispering Pines in GV.
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Still no word on when the Cascade Shores Store will re-open, but the word I got from the realtor is they will hire "local."
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Caroline and Mike Inglis are planning a trip to Israel end of month. They are taking their grandkids, Ash and Isabel to see their Dad, who is living there for the time being. Have a great trip Inglis family! Charlotte and Larry Starns survived their trip to South America. Apparently they landed on the day of the quake in one of the heavily affected areas, and had to be bussed out, as the runways were wrecked by the quake. Scary stuff.

Truffles anyone?

Went to the Firehouse at 1:30 today for a Chocolate Truffle class given by Linda Lumos. This was a Womens Club event. Paid $10 for materials, left with a dozen big fat truffles, and most importantly, the knowledge to make LOTS more! There were about 10 of us attending. Thanks CSWC! Next event is a group lunch at Diego's in Grass Valley (yum) and they are planning the kids Easter Party at Firehouse. There was also talk of volunteering as a group for election day, and donating the $ you get paid to CSWC to help with the events planned for year. Great group of ladies!
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WOKE up to 3" of fresh fluffy stuff. What a suprize. It was in the 20's at 6am. Burrrr, but sunny and beautiful by afternoon.