It's time to take it easy

I'm kicking back and catching my breath after five days of having house guests. Our long-time friend from the Bay area and his 14-year-old son came and stayed with us last week. They are absolutely wonderful guests to have, but it's so different having two additional people in the house when you're used to a two-person household. The visit was their last father-and-son getaway before school starts today in their hometown, so there was fishing, barbecuing, fishing, eating lots of goodies, fishing, watching sports and movies on TV and fishing. They fished twice a day on the river and even found time to go out on Bridgeport Reservoir and fish with a guide. They caught some really nice fish and will be able to prove it with the pictures we took. The only drawback for our friend was that it would be a long drive home, having to listen to his son remind him that he caught the biggest fish of the trip. When we are fortunate enough to live here, we sometimes forget what a special place it is for city dwellers to escape to. This was a great reminder for us how lucky we are.

Service club to the max

The Antelope Valley Lions Club truly knows the meaning of being a service club and follows through. They do so much for our community and its residents, most of which doesn't get publicized nor praised. The club hosts barbecues, the cow pasture golf tournament, a basketball tournament and many other activities throughout the year to raise money. All funds raised through these events is put back into our community. They provide two scholarships to graduating Coleville High School students - the Jackie Giorgi Memorial Scholarship and their ongoing Lions Club scholarship. In addition, with the other Lions clubs in the state, they sponsor the student speaker program. The unsung part of their humanitarian work for us, that is so special, is their financial and personal support to people in need of eye care or medical assistance for those with serious medical problems. So the next time you have the chance, please support their efforts.

Fire commission

Will meet tonight at the Walker fire station at 6 p.m. for anyone interested in attending.

Valley Regional Planning Advisory Committee

The committee met Aug. 3. The topic most discussed was the Mountain Gate project. Again, thanks were given to those who helped with their first work day. We were told that, in the spring, it is planned that construction will begin on parking areas and restrooms at the park. They are also planning an additional clean-up day in September (date not yet decided), so that we can rake up the leaves, etc., on the ground and prepare them for burning.

This and that

n The "How Big Is Big" fishing derby seems to have been pretty successful, especially for Curt Harner from Carson City, who was the winner. His 8. 2-pound fish was the biggest one. There were several other large fish registered, ranging from 6. 8 to 7. 8 pounds; but there are still many big ones out there to be caught, so keep on fishing.

n This is a personal issue, but I would love to have feedback from anyone reading this who has had the same problem. We have hard-wired smoke detectors in our house. After some months of living here, they decided to occasionally start screaming in the middle of the night, as if there was a fire. Thinking it was a problem with the alarms, we replaced them with another set from a different manufacturer. Those waited a couple of months, then did the same as the first ones. We then had them replaced with a third set from yet another manufacturer. The new ones waited three weeks after installation before the middle-of-the-night screams happened last week. They have now been placed on their own electrical circuit, so that if they scream, we don't have to remove each alarm - just throw the breaker switch. It's hard to be real positive about any "solution" when you have been scared awake so many times for no apparent reason. I have mentioned in previous columns about power "flickers" in our area, but the alarms never go off when that happens. Has anyone else gone through this, and how did you solve it? Or could you solve it?

n Lynne Katusich can be reached at lynnekat@gbis. com or (530) 495-2552.