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Oroville ARC Store celebrates second year
The store, at 2745 Oro Dam Blvd., will hold a parking lot sale and free hot dogs today, May 22. Also, May 22-23, everything in the store, excluding consignment items, will be 20 percent off. Enter the drawing for a gift certificate and pick up a free coffee card good at the ARCoffeecafe in The Loft. The Oroville ARC store is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sundays. Proceeds benefit the Arc of Butte County’s Family Support programs, providing services to approximately 900 families with special needs children and adults in Butte and Glenn counties.
Oroville Sunrise Rotary’s annual Golf Tournament
Today, May 22, at Lake Oroville Golf Course; 8 a.m. shotgun start. Barbecue chicken lunch and awards. Fee: $75 (golf course members $45). Checks payable to: Oroville Sunrise Rotary, P.O. Box 5476, Oroville, Calif. 95966. Includes lunch and golf cart. 534-8806 or 521-8487. Event raises funds for charitable causes.
Computers for Classrooms Drop-Off/Pick-Up Day
From 9 a.m.-2 p.m. today, May 22, at Oroville Library, 1820 Mitchell Ave. Drop off computers, monitors, keyboards, printers, televisions, radios, cell phones, laptops, DVD players, camcorders, VCRs, stereos, loose electronic parts, working or not, no age limit. Pick up computers for low-income families. For $100 to $260, laptops with wireless; cash or money order only. For $135, get a complete system desktop with
Pentium 4 processor, 512 MB Ram, new modem, Ethernet, 17 inch monitor, keyboard, mouse, Windows XP Pro, Microsoft Office 2003 and one year guarantee. Bring proof of low income, such as MediCal card, Section 8 housing, food stamps or Healthy Families. Information, 895-4175. Third annual Show & Shine Car Show
Dow Lewis Motors, Les Schwab Tires, American Legion Post No. 210 and Gridley Cruisers sponsor show, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. today, May 22, at Dow Lewis Motors, 1722 Highway 99, Gridley. No show entry fee, but bring unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots. Food, fun and music; no cost for admission. Raffle prizes and a 50/50 drawing. John Kusak, 868-5425; Ed, 846-5959; Howard, 846-5083; or Les Schwab Tires, 846-2553.
Swiss steak dinner at Palermo Grange
From 5-7 p.m. today, May 22, at 7600 Irwin Ave. Adults $7, children under 10 $5. Public invited. Carry outs available. 533-9211 or 534-7251.
Biggs Fourth of July Hometown Celebration Tri-Tip Dinner and Silent Auction
From 5-8 p.m. today, May 22, in Biggs Community Hall, formerly the Veterans Hall on B Street. Adults $12.50, children 6-10 $6 and children under 5 free. Includes tri-tip, salad, beans, beverage and dessert. Proceeds go toward cost of fireworks for Fourth of July.
The Hope Center fundraiser dinner
Dinner, 6 p.m. today, May 22, at 1950 Kitrick Ave., behind Ken’s Paint Store on Myers Street, benefits the homeless. Chicken in a barrel, baked potato, salad, French bread and cheesecake. Music by The Stephanie Hayden Band. The Center offers many services to approximately 1,700 clients monthly; distribution of food and clothing, hot meals four times a week at a local park and Life Skills Academy classes. Runs on contributions. Cost $25 per person or $40 a couple. Tickets at The Hope Center, 538-8398; “The Living Word”; and the Nazarene Book Store. Information, haydenministries.org.
Hi-Guy, Hi-Hon Community Dancers
Community dance for Butte County adults ages 50 plus, from 6-9 p.m at 2959 Lower Wyandotte Road. No partner necessary. Today, May 22, music by Harmony. $6 donation. Birthdays for month celebrated at first dance of month; we provide cake and punch. 534-0818.
International Order of Odd Fellows Breakfast
Oroville Odd Fellows and Rebekahs Lodges are hosting the breakfast from 8-11 a.m. Sunday, May 23, at Odd Fellows Hall, 1470 Oliver Ave. Adults $5, children $2. Alan McGrew, 533-4482.
Cooking for Optimal Health series
Series of nutrition classes and cooking demonstrations 7 p.m. Tuesdays, May 25-June 1, in Williams Hall, 1180 Robinson St. Certified instructors teach how to select proper foods for better health, use of plant-based foods, nutritious desserts and healthy fast food. Limited space, call early, 534-0488.
Six-week Grief and Loss Support Group
Free meetings from noon-1:30 p.m., on Wednesdays through June 23. Sponsored by Oroville Hospital. Information and location, Laura Hudson, 534-5519.
Pat Alley Memorial Dog Park opening
Saturday, May 29 program. Ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication, 10 a.m.; dog costume parade/contest, 10:30 a.m. Four more dog contests, 10:30 -2:30 p.m.; prizes awarded. Low cost vaccine clinic by Butte Oroville Veterinarian Hospital, sponsor with Feather River Recreation & Park District. The event ends at 4 p.m. Enter Riverbend Park, turn left going under Highway 162 bridge on very rough dirt road to pond where road deadends. Applications for dog contests and booth spaces (fee) available; 533-2011. Deanna Simmons, Park District, .
An Afternoon at the Ehmann Home
The program, at 1480 Lincoln St., will feature two local speakers, tours and refreshments, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, May 29. Local veteran Doug Krause will talk about the history of Memorial Day and his trip back to Normandy in 1998. Stu Shaner, president of the Veteran’s Memorial Park, will talk about the park. Sponsored by Butte County Historical Society. Admission by donation. 877-7436 or 533-5316.
A Haute Couture Fashion Show
Presented by Butte County NAACP Unit No. 1029 at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 29, in the downstairs ballroom at Copa de Oro, 1445 Myers St. Featuring fashions by DeJe’s and other local merchants. Donation: $20, includes lunch and door prizes. For tickets, call Irma Jordan at 589-2341 or LaJuana Jordan at 591-9708.
14th annual Oroville Pow Wow
Memorial Day Weekend, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, May 29, and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, May 30, at Plumas Avenue School, 440 Plumas Ave. Free event and parking with music and rhythms of American Indian drummers and singers, Native American foods, arts and crafts, exhibitions, social and fun dances, contests and tiny tots dances, royalty dance exhibitions and coronations for all age categories. Flute players at dinner break. No alcohol, tobacco, drugs, weapons, animals or open fires. Limited camping. Information, 532-1611.
Memorial Day, May 31, events
The Avenue of Flags and small flags on the veterans’ graves will be put up at 6 a.m. at the Memorial Cemetery and taken down at 4 p.m. if there is no rain in sight. Volunteers are welcome to help hang the flags and take them down. Memorial service 11 a.m. at the Memorial Cemetery on LIncoln Street. Memorial ceremony 1 p.m. at the Old Green Bridge off of Montgomery Street in downtown. Barbecue lunch served by the American Legion Post No. 95 next to the Memorial Veteran’s Hall, 2374 Montgomery St. Carne asada taco dinner at Bangor Hall and Park
Chips and salsa, carne asada tacos, rice and beans served 5-7 p.m. on Friday, June 4. Dessert bar available. Adults, $7; children 4-11, $4; free to ages 3 and under. Proceeds go for monthly expenses, maintenance and up-keep of the hall and park.
Hooked on Fishing
Sponsored by Kiwanis from 7 a.m.-noon Saturday, June 5, at Bedrock Park.
Yard sale at Berry Creek Grange No. 694
Starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 5, at 1477 Bald Rock Road. 589-2695 or 589-2961 after 5 p.m.
Bangor community yard sale
Held from 9 a.m.-3 p..m. Saturday, June 5, at Bangor Hall and Park. Sponsored by Bangor Women’s Improvement Club. Coffee and donuts available for breakfast; snack bar for lunch. Table rentals $10 each. To reserve tables, call Dianna Link, 679-2409.
Forbestown Ridge Fire Safe Council Yard Sale
From 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, June 5, corner of Forbestown Road and Challenge Cut-off Road near the old Buckhorn Saloon. Park and shop under the pine trees. Also, opening day of Forbestown’s Gold Trader Flat Museum.
Opening Day for Yuba Feather Museum and Gold Trader Flat in Forbestown
Saturday, June 5, at 19096 New York Flat Road. Day begins with flag raising at 9 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. Free admission. First of three living history events this season. Docents in period costumes will relate history of the gold rich towns of the foothills. Gold Trader Flat is a replica town built in the fashion of old mining and logging towns of the 1850s. Try out tools and activities of the early settlers, walk on stilts, ring the schoolhouse bell or shop in the merchantile. Collection of more than 3,000 photographs records the transition through time; more than 300 family group records on file.
Also, fourth annual Chili Cook Off 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Prizes awarded for variety of categories at 3 p.m. $5 will buy a tasting kit and a vote for one’s favorite chili. Registration information, Stan or Marilyn Meadows, 675-2930.
Omega Nu Luau Dinner Dance
Alpha Beta chapter of Omega Nu hosts this dance at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 5, at the historic Monday Club, 2385 Montgomery St. Tickets $30 per person. No-host bar includes beer, wine and Mai-Tais. Information, 370-3545 or 990-3083.
Yankee Hill Grange breakfast
Eggs, sausage, fruit, juice, biscuits and gravy or pancakes served 8 a.m.-10 a.m. Saturday, June 5, at 4122 Big Bend Road, Yankee Hill. Public invited. Donation $5 adults, $3 children under 10; under 4 free. 533-7101, 534-0456.
GWA Scholarship Tri-Tip Barbecue at Wyandotte Grange
From 3-5 p.m. Sunday, June 13, at 4910 Foothill Blvd. Donation: adults $10, child under 10 $4.
Melodrama on stage at the Historic Monday Club
Hocks Unlimited, in its 36th season as a theater group, will perform “Trapped in a Villain’s Web,” or “Weave Me a Loan,” in June this year at the Club, 2385 Montgomery St. Director is Shirley Bugado. All five shows, June 18-19 and 24-26, will start at 7:45 p.m., and admission is $12.50. Admission includes beer, sodas, water and unlimited popcorn. Get in the spirit and boo and hiss. Information, 533-5976.
Las Plumas High School class of 1980 reunion
The 30-year reunion will be held on Saturday and Sunday, June 19-20. Please e-mail to receive information.
Fireworks Safety Fun Day
From 4-7 p.m. First Friday, July 2, in downtown Oroville.
Town Hall Meeting with Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly
At 9 a.m. Saturday, July 31, at Yankee Hill Grange, 4122 Big Bend Road. People can tell the supervisor what is on their minds. Not an elections event, as this is not an election year for Connelly.
Movie in the Park
Movie starts at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, in Bicentennial Park, downtown Oroville.
Oroville High School class of 1960 reunion
Plans for the 50-year reunion on Saturday, Aug. 21, are being made and information on classmates who have moved in the last five years is needed. Please call Linda Ledger, 589-1613, or Joan Robetson, 534-8901 if you can provide information about former classmates.
Nonprofit groups and community organizations can submit items for “What’s Happening in Oroville” by e-mailing the pertinent information to , fax it to 342-3617 or mail it to: What’s Happening in Oroville, P.O. Box 9, Chico, CA 95927. Please include your name and telephone number on all correspondence.
Though it’s been going on for some time, it took me awhile to realize it – I’m in a relationship with my dog.
And it’s not even my dog, not really. I got him two years ago for Sawyer, my (now) 11-year-old son. He named the dog Widdle Warrick because he looks like an Ewok from “Star Wars.” (Ewoks are cute, cuddly and a bit awkward – just like our dog.)
The dog was to be Sawyer’s responsibility – he would feed him, clean up after him and take him for walks.
If you have kids and a dog, you’re smirking because you know where this is heading. I feed the dog and take him for walks. Sawyer still picks up after him. Mostly.
This new division of labor apparently has made me the Queen of Kibble – and the dog mine. We’re even sleeping together.
I’m not sure how or when this animal wiggled his way into my heart and onto the foot of my mattress. I don’t particularly like dogs.
But Widdle worships me, lying at my feet as I work and waiting at the window for my return, no matter how long I’m gone.
The dog hangs on my every word, his head cocked to one side. He jumps up and down and wags his tail when he sees me, whether I’ve been gone eight hours or eight seconds. Widdle trails along as I go from room to room. As a boyfriend, he’d be really annoying. Or would he?
If Widdle had a job, I know he would buy me nice things. As it is, he brings me whatever he finds in the yard – sticks, Nerf gun darts – and lays them at my feet as if offerings to some deity. (It’s so cute!)
People are weird about their dogs, and I worry that I’ve crossed that line. As I leave for work, I call, “Bye, Widdle! I love you!” Did I just tell a dog that I love him?
I’m not the only one.
Women love their pets, according to a recently released survey conducted in 2008 by the Boston Consulting Group on women and consumerism. In the survey, which asked more than 12,000 women in 22 countries a battery of 120 questions, 42 percent said their pets make them “extremely happy,” followed by sex, 27 percent, and food, 19 percent. (Shopping got 5 percent of the vote.)
I’m not sure I’d rank those items in that order, but you get the point. We can’t help but love our pets, even if it wasn’t our intention. They make us happy.
My friend Wendi, who has a 5-year-old Shih Tzu, says dogs don’t care whether you are grumpy or what you’re wearing. They watch whatever you want on TV. Her dog doesn’t complain when she comes home late or even ask where she’s been. He’s easy company. And he lies across the doorway of her bedroom at night and barks at anyone who comes near her house. (Unless, perhaps, that person is bearing treats.)
There was no way I could not reciprocate Widdle’s love when he so clearly adores me. Granted, his haircuts cost more than mine, and he doesn’t clean up after himself, but I’ve dated men with the same traits.
A single woman, am I? You guessed it. But even my married girlfriends say they’d sometimes rather curl up with their dog than their husbands. My friend Amy says she doesn’t have to ask her dogs about their day.
“You don’t have a meaningful conversation with your dog,” she says. “You can just be.”
Now that I’ve reluctantly accepted this new relationship with my dog, I’m shopping for him – squeaky toys, chew ropes and, this winter, I bought him a little red sweatshirt because he was cold. He liked it so much he ate it.
If you have kids, you have a ton of stuffed animals-I can guarantee it! And sometimes, that mound of stuffed toys can become overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to keep your house tidy and save some space. Before your child’s plush toys take over the second floor of your home, here are a few tips on displaying and storing these toys that would otherwise stay piled in a corner of the playroom.
One way to wrangle up a small number of plush toys is by using a stuffed toy hammock. As long as it is within reach of the children, you won’t have to fetch a new one every five minutes when they decide they want a different stuffed animal after all. If you’re dealing with a small number of plush toys, you could also display them on bookshelves and cubbies around their room or playroom, and then that way they also act as decoration as well. Another option is using a toy chest to store them when not in use, but this generally means that a child will have to dig all the way to the bottom to get the one they want-which can mean a mess of toys on the floor around the storage chest.
Small plush dolls, like beanie babies, can always be put in a laundry bag and hung on a hook or on the back of a closet door. You can also store these in decorative baskets, display them on shelves and cubbies, or you can even store them in a shoe organizer on the back of the child’s door-these are the perfect size for each shoe space.
Another option to wrangle up stuffed animals from your child’s room is by using a plush doll chain that hangs from the ceiling and clipping the plush toys on, or you can also get a stand-up pole called a toy tree to hook the stuffed toys on. This is a great way to not only keep the mess at bay, but to also display them in a way that takes up a lot less room than a toy chest or toy hammock.
If you’re looking to store a lot of smaller toys into one spot, a great way to do this is to place these toys into under the bed plastic storage containers. You can put the plush dolls in the container, pop the lid on, and slide it under the children’s beds. This way, they are out of site but still easily accessible, even for the youngest kid in the household. Simply slide the container out from underneath the bed and you have all their stuffed animals within reach.
So stop letting that pile of stuffed animals intimidate you. With a little creativity and storage solutions, they will stop invading your home and will gradually come to love their new home on the chain or toy tree-whether the kids want them there or not!