When Crafters Mall owner Karon Trybom heard that the U.S. Forest Service was in immediate need of 800 emblems sewn on 800 bags for elite firefighting scouts, she called in her own troops:

Quilters.

Their mission: sew patches on insulated zipper bags, used to store each scout’s medical supplies. One bag would go to each of the 800 scouts,

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No offense, guys, but I need a moment alone with the women, please.

It’s about my waltz dress for Dancing with the Stars.

Help me help me help me!

The only thing I’ve got are my shoes. Wait, I take that back. I didn’t even get the correct dance shoes. Wrong color.…

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Reader Ren had a good idea for those of us depressed over the lack of fireworks on Friday: Flaming food.

If you’ve not heard, all the local fireworks, except those in Mount Shasta, have been outright canceled and/or postponed.

We may not see…

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If you want to see fireworks Friday, you may have to travel to Mount Shasta.

Because the north state’s fire conditions are crazy dry and dangerous, fireworks celebrations have been canceled and/or postponed left and right. 

Extinguished fireworks include: Saturday’s Burney Basin Days fireworks (yes for Basin…

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WALLY HERGER…

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Ground-breakings have never done much for me. Grip. Grin. Hooold it. Take a picture. Boooorrring.

But the downtown Mall roof-breaking Thursday morning?

I wouldn’t have missed a chance to see Mayor Mary Stegall remove the first board from The Mall roof to recognize its…

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First, glance over at the right-hand column. You’ll find a new NorCal Fire scanner link that allows you to listen to scanner chatter on your computer. We hope this will help those of you in the fire zones keep up with what’s going on.

Second, I know how popular MarketFest is, and how much everyone was looking forward to its opening day today.

Bad news: The first MarketFest has been postponed due to the smoke. However, if all goes as planned, MarketFest will open the following Thursday, July 3.

Third, I just returned home from my third Dancing with the Stars -Shasta County Style rehearsal.

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The smell of smoke from the surrounding fires reminds me of the smoky aroma of cedar-planked salmon. It’s one of my favorite, most simple summer entrees.

The water-logged cedar plank imparts a delicious smoky taste to the fish. (By the way, you…

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Food for Thought has some fire information sources for you:

We’ve posted this Cal Fire web site in our announcement box. Because it’s a California-wide site, it’s a bit circuitous to navigate. But it’s a good start.

Also, we offer this Google Earth Map with dots that represent area fires. (This requires high-speed…

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Also check out Yubanet.com for more fire information.

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Here’s a link to the Dancing with the Stars profiles and videos.

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