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Not for Christmas but for employment.

It seems that new jobs are popping up all over the place. The Tractor Supply Company is bound to still have a few positions open. If not, it still wouldn’t hurt to have your application on file, just in case. The new store is scheduled to open mid-March. 

The Stanislaus National Forest is hiring.

Temporary Summer Positions

The Stanislaus National Forest will be filling a number of temporary summer positions in 2010. A wide variety of jobs are available in archaeology, botany, business administration, recreation, timber, trails, wildlife and wild-land firefighting.

Fire Employment Outreach

The Stanislaus National Forest currently has 13 vacancies in a variety of fire positions. Please read the Outreach Notice to view the list of current open positions and announcement numbers. Applications must be submitted no later than March 8, 2010 to be considered for these positions.

Lowe’s is breaking ground. It will be a few months before they are ready to begin hiring employee’s but the construction business will be booming. Builders have been hard at work on the Pizza Hut. I saw them hammering away on the roof just yesterday.

Not much activity has been going on at The Rock in Twain Harte. Maybe they have decided they like their new location? Let’s hope not.

Wal-Mart is still trying to expand. If the prospective expansion ever takes place, they will need to hire a slew of new people. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this doesn’t happen. I’d rather have a new Chick-fil-A. Heck I’d even stand out front for a few hours in a chicken suit with a sign.  🙂

Do you love Chick-fil-A too? Please comment on this post and tell the world how much you love Chick-fil-A. Elk Grove is simply too far to drive for breakfast.

Girl Scout Cookies are Ready!

I stopped at Save Mart today and the girl scouts were out front peddling their cookies again this year. The price has gone up yet again, this year it’s $4.00 a box and unless I’ve really lost my mind, the cookie is slightly thicker and the peanut butter has also been reduced. The price increase I can tolerate but I wish they would stop messing with the recipe.

Our family moved to Twain Harte from Citrus Heights and we were so happy to move out of the city, into what we thought was a quiet bedroom community — we couldn’t have been more wrong.

Our first clue that all was not well in Twain Harte, happened shortly after we moved into our new place. My husband decided to take our son to the park to play for the first time. You can image our shock and dismay when he found what appeared to be a gang fight. A dozen or so teenagers brandishing knives and skateboards as weapons, having a fight at Eproson Park.

My guys came home and I can tell you it was quite awhile before we allowed our son to play at the park.

Three years ago, when my son was ten-years-old, another set of teenagers hanging out at the park, asked him for a joint. He walked home in disbelief and very upset. He had no knowledge of drugs prior to that incident.

Then, in April of 2008 at that very same park an argument broke out and a young man was shot, during the Friday night “Concert in the Pines.” We were stunned and very glad to have avoided the entire incident.

Until today.

We are very cautious parents. We don’t allow our son to go to the park during holiday weekends or when we expect large numbers of tourists milling about the streets of Twain Harte. With Valentine’s Day celebrations and everyone being off for President’s Day, I kept him close to home over the weekend.

Today he asked for permission to walk down to the park — and it really was such a beautiful day. The tourists had all gone home, so we gave our permission — happy he was getting out of the house and enjoying the sunshine.

My Motherlode reported that a pipe bomb had been found across from Eporson Park and my son was still at the park. According to the article, “A neighboring park has been evacuated, and the Sheriff’s Department is waiting for a bomb team from the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department to arrive. Residents will want to avoid the area this afternoon.”

The problem is, they had not evacuated the park. My husband called and told our son to come home right away. My son had noticed all the police in the area but they never said a word to anyone. In my mind, evacuating the park should have been one of the first things police took care of.

In a follow-up article, posted at 4:30 p.m., My Motherlode announced, “A nearby park was evacuated for much of the afternoon as a safety precaution. It is not known who is responsible for the pipe bomb.”

I am still very shaken to realize that my son was alone at that park today, and this day could have had a very different outcome for him and our family. 

When I was a child, I walked everywhere in the small town I grew up in, from the age of about 8-years and on. My son is now 13 and should be able to enjoy his freedom. He is a young man now, but how can I ever let him enjoy a carefree childhood and enjoy the simplest things in life, when we have people planting pipe bombs across from the park?

An incident like this really makes you stop to think. It’s too bad we can’t wrap our children up in bubble wrap, to protect them from all the dangers around us – but of course we can’t. As parents, we can only do our best to use good judgment and teach our children appropriate safety measures — then hope for the best.

I can only say, it will be a good long time before I let my son walk to the park alone again.

We headed to Sonora this afternoon, to pick up supplies, grab a bite to eat at Carl’s Jr. – love those waffle fries – and do a little browsing around town. Traffic was moderate for that time of day. 

It was such a gorgeous day, with the sun shining brightly; the temperature almost hit 70° in Twain Harte. It felt like springtime, minus the daffodils – I can hardly wait for the daffodils. I was surprised to see how many we had popping up everywhere last year. 

The stores were all bustling with shoppers. The lines were not long, but it’s Friday and I believe we had just missed the Friday rush. Especially since the traffic grew considerably heavier the closer we were to Twain Harte. Traffic backed up briefly on the seven curves as we made our way home. 

As we drove through town, I was surprised to see that the town had filled up and hungry prospective diners snagged up every available parking spot. Couples have started early celebrating Valentine’s Day by going out on the town. 

We made our reservations early for the Sunday Brunch, at Seven Sisters Restaurant in Tuolumne (at Black Oak Casino). According to staff members, the Valentine’s Day Brunch is an extra special event. I can hardly wait. This will be our fourth visit, and I thought the other three times we dined at Seven Sisters were special already. 

I visited the Seven Sisters website and could not find a thing listed about Valentine’s Day on it anywhere, so I called. The reservation clerk informed me that it is not necessary for them to advertise because they sell out every year. I hope you have made your reservations. 

The best Valentine’s Day I can recall is the year my loving husband took me to The Firehouse Restaurant in Sacramento. I had the best Steak Diane ever that night. Tomorrow morning I will be feasting on Filet Mignon, Crème Brule and made-to-order crepes, prepared at our table. 

Where are you spending Valentine’s Day?