LoCaL Historian Tim Purdy

We have a LoCaL Historian. You know this, right? If you don’t I am thrilled to be the one to tell you. Tim Purdy's family has been here since 1860, that's a lot of history right there. For the last 40 years he has been sharing the knowledge that can only be gained by doing years of research. He shares it through tours and his daily emails. I have been a subscriber for quite awhile now and highly recommend it! Check out his blog at www.tipurdycom

Here's a list of Tim's upcoming tours~

Saturday May 13 Inspiration Point tour~
This tour is both historical and geological. For instance, Tim tells me that 12,000 years ago the Elks Lodge would have been lakefront property on the great Lake Lahontan. Inspiration Point has a commanding view of the Honey Lake Valley and was our city’s first park and Tim says he is “sure numerous Lassen High Alumni are glad that many of their activities were not recorded.”


Saturday June 17 Mural tour~
Not only does Tim give the history of each mural but also the history of the building it’s on. My favorite link I found on his blog was the LMUD building. It was built in 1940 for one grocery store but now has a mural on the building depicting a rival, Purity Grocery. History with a twist, kinda Twis-tory :)

Wednesday June 21 Summer Solstice Sunrise tour~
This tour takes us to the petroglyphs on Belfast road, here's Tim's description, "Were you aware that the Belfast petroglyph site also serves as ancient observatory? This event only occurs on the morning of the summer solstice when the sun enters a chamber highlighting a variety of glyphs, among other things. It is quite the sight to see. Last year we had a small delegation that made the trek. This is an early morning excursion and I mean early as we gather at 5 a.m. to make the trek. In preparation attendees receive in advance John Rudolph’s paper, An Ancient Solar Observatory."
No. I wasn't even aware we had petroglyphs out there. Doesn’t this sound incredible?! I am so excited to take my favorite photographer/handsome husband on this tour!

Saturday September 16 Susanville Cemetery tour~
This will be in conjunction with the Lassen County Courthouse Centennial and will feature a cross section of county officials buried there.


Tim has subscribers from all over the world. Here’s what one of his followers had to say about the Sunrise Solstice Tour~
"Living in Britain and having not even visited the USA, I find all your posts absolutely fascinating. This is one trek I should love to make were I closer.”


What a positive message Tim sends about our incredibly historic area. Thank you Tim for making us all aware of our Hometown Proud History!

Kerri Cobb make me SO Hometown Proud!

I just adore Kerri Cobb. Many years ago I met her somewhere and told her if she was EVER looking for a job to come see us. She did indeed work for us way back when and Rick still quotes her to new hires. Our favorite Kerri-ism, “When I get ready for work I put my smile on just like I put my pants on”. Wise words. You probably know her as the Branch Manager at US Bank or a very active past President in Soroptimist OR one of the Board Members of our LoCaL Chamber of Commerce and heaven knows what else, she is always doing service for this community that she loves.



Recently Kerri invited me to the Reno-Tahoe Outdoor Recreation Show, she was looking for people that LOVE Lassen County. You KNOW I do. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend but I found her enthusiasm contagious, as usual. Kerri talked about all the tourism opportunities here, hiking, fishing, biking, quad riding, stuff we kinda take for granted like wide open spaces. How you can go to the movies for under $6 and though she didn’t say it I know she was thinking you can even get The Best Donuts On The Planet at Susanville Market. Okay, maybe I made that part up but we all know it’s true. Anyway, Kerri, along many other volunteers, gave out all of the brochures at the show and shared what a fantastic place we live in. We do live where others vacation.

                        
Our Chamber has so many exciting events coming up, a Home and Garden Show April 29th AND on June23-24 they host the 25th Annual Main Street Cruise! The Main Cruise will be put on by our past and present Chamber Executive Directors~ Sue Eide, Kristen Volberg, Susan Christensen (past Director in charge of this event), Theresa Phillips and (current Director) Patti Hagata. We appreciate everything this fine group of women have done and continue to do for our community. They always need our support. If you haven’t already this is a great time to join the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce. To join, serve or volunteer give the office a call at 257-4323. Kerri told me she even thought of a slogan for the Lassen Chamber “Live, Laugh, Love, Lassen County!” Good stuff.


Since Kerri is also totally devoted to Soroptimist I MUST tell you their Margarita-fest is right around the corner and last year IT SOLD OUT. May 5th from 6-9pm will be all about Fun, Food, Friends and, of course. Margaritas it's even for a good Cause, Soroptimist mission as stated on their Facebook page is "to better the lives of women and children in our community.” We can all get behind that. Tickets are available at Margie’s Book Nook.
             

Thank you Kerri, Lassen County Chamber of Commerce and Soroptimist for all your Hometown Proud fun and spirit!

                  

Chicken Pot Pie or The Day We Lost E. Bunny

WARNING. Easter spoiler alert. Do not read this aloud with small children~ When our daughter was little she was helping me put away laundry or some such thing and was in my closet when she found something. She turned, looked at me horrified, clutching this envelope in her sweet little hand and yelled “NOT THE EASTER BUNNY TOO!”. In her own handwriting the envelope was address to E.B. Bunny. It was tragic and…well… pretty funny, all at once. It was nothing a chocolate bunny couldn’t make better. But just like my little girl on that day I occasionally seek comfort in food. Really a good gravy is a game changer for me. Life is about choices and indulgence is alright on the side so long as most of my diet is about healthy choices.

Fortunately there are lots of recipes that take those classic comfort foods and make them a little lighter. This Chicken Pot Pie is like that. Since I only do a top crust I am saving a HUGE amount of calories right there AND since I am using a Pillsbury crust I also save a HUGE amount of time. Something it seems there is never enough of.

1 Pillsbury pie crust
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut in bite size pieces
1 package sliced mushrooms
3 small red potatoes, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 leeks sliced thin
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 425*. Lightly salt and pepper chicken. Sear chicken pieces in 1 tbsp oil over med high heat, set chicken aside. Reduce heat to medium and add remaining tbsp oil to pan, add leeks and mushrooms, cook until almost tender. Add potatoes and carrots stirring to get all the yummy goodness off the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium low, add 1 cup broth to veggies. Simmer for 10 minutes. Whisk remaining 1 cup chicken broth with flour till smooth. Pour over veggies, add thyme and chicken to pan stirring continuously until it begins to thicken. When broth is bubbling and thickened pour into a 2 qt casserole dish. Top with pie crust and bake for 25 minutes.

This reheats well too. I reheat in the microwave uncovered so my crust doesn’t get soggy.

I figure if I lighten up my meals I can still indulge in that chocolate bunny. Or jelly beans. Or malted milk ANYTHING.

Happy Easter everyone, from all of us at your Hometown friendly Susanville Super!

Basil Bouquet

Your Basil will stay fresher longer if you keep it on the counter like flowers. Unless of course you have an insane Siamese that will eat it.

Susanville Runners

Let’s face it, it’s tough to stay in shape during the winter. At least our upper bodies have kept busy this year what with all the shoveling of snow and stacking of sandbags. We still need to keep our hearts and lungs healthy with some aerobic activity though and It’s a whole lot easier to stay in shape than to get back in shape. Lots of LoCaLs are STREAKING! It’s not what you think. The last couple of months my Facebook newsfeed has been totally blown up with screen shots of treadmills and gps routes. That’s a lot of positivity if you ask me. People walking, running and even shuffling, :) that would be Rod Mccollough. No matter how fast or slow they post it up! I love this, the triumph is in just getting it done rather than just being the fastest or farthest. Linda Powell wants Susanville Runners to be completely INclusive! Susanville Runners Facebook group was started in 2011 by Linda Powell, Lisa Urquizu, Carol Growden and Katie Zumpano and it appears to have hit the ground running, see what I did there. Here’s what Linda tells me is going on~

"This past Thanksgiving Runners World posted their Run Streak which was to last from Thanksgiving Day until New Years day. I thought it would be fun to roll it out to the Susanville Runners group. About 16 people signed up. The goal was to run at least one mile per day each day. They had to post a picture of their GPS or treadmill. When January rolled around, there were a lot more people interested and excited to start off their New Year. We had about 62 or so people start off and about 45 or so finished successfully. Many others wanted to join a February streak so I went ahead and organized it. For February, I broke it into Streakers and Trainers. Streakers now have to run 1.5 miles each day and the Trainers have to hit 18 miles minimum in a week. They have 1 long run day and can take up to 2 rest days. The streakers can run or walk. I also allow the elliptical for those who have injuries or just need a day of lower impact. The exciting thing is that there are some people who have never run a race, but as they gain confidence and fitness, they are signing up for the Paiute Meadows Trail Run. The group for Feb has about 40 people involved. As soon as the weather clears up, I plan on having a Run Streak Run get-together! There are some people who are nearing 100 days in a row!”

One visiting runner posted “Can I just say I LOVED how many thumbs up I got from people in this town as I ran by. Not just older people but little kiddos and teens too. I’ve never experienced that before. I’ve usually seen a wave or a quick hello but the thumbs up was really encouraging. Thank you Susanville!” 
You know it! That’s our Ville!