The place to be on May 17, 2008, is Wasuma Elementary School where you can celerbrate life and join the fight against cancer. Each year the American Cancer Society, with the help of many local  volunteers put on the event national known as Relay For Life^®. It’s a time and place where people come to celebrate those who have survived cancer, remember those we’ve lost, and fight back against a disease that touches all our lives.

Join this year and be a part of the celebration and fight for life.

Your involvement will help the American Cancer Society work towards a mission of eliminating cancer and will support much needed services in our community. If you want to be a part of the fight against cancer or your interested in learning more or receiving an invitation, please email Rebecca Morris at rebecca.morris@oakhurstmed.net

This past April, The State Center Community College District decided that it is time to start the formal college naming process that will give the Willow International Center a moniker of its own. They are now looking for names and the names they select will be presented to the Board of Trustees in October.

Anyone, be they staff, students or a member of the community at large can submit a name for consideration. The college’s websites will allow you to suggest a name via the internet. And there are also suggestion boxes at the Willow International Center, so you can drop off your name suggestion in person.

This is your chance to go down in history as the person who chose the name of a great public institution. Names can make all the difference when it comes to community acceptance, so the school is making sure that the community feels like it is a part of this college. We all have a vested interest in local centers for higher education and this time the community will be there from the start, christening this school with its new name.

Certain dates, like the Ides of March, go down in infamy. And today is no exception. People all over the U.S. have been dreading this day and right now some people are scrambling to get their taxes done.

In centuries past, April 15 meant nothing; it was an ordinary day. How is it that what was once just another spring day has now come to be a day that so many dread? There are many answers to that question (and more than a few conspiracy theories).

Before the mid 1950s, taxes were actually due on March 15. So at that time people were not even thinking about taxes on April 15. Before that, they were due on March 1, as a result of the 16th amendment, the amendment that gave the government permission to collect personal income tax. In the years that followed, the date was changed to March 15 and then April 5.

You may appreciate a March rather than April date because it gives you more time, and in that sense the government is no different. A later date gives the government more time to prepare for the avalanche of work and more time to hang onto some of the money in its coffers before they need to return in to taxpayers in the form of refunds.

When it comes to fires, there are no guarantees and no fire prevention methods that are 100% effective, but there are certainly things you can do to prevent a fire from destroying your home. Making certain that your home is fire resistant will do more to prevent the unthinkable and it will give you a well-maintained property

If you are considering buying a home or if you’ve already bought a home, you can call the local fire department to get a fire hazard rating for the area.

You don’t have to leave things up to chance: you can plan the vegetation that surrounds you home so that flammable vegetation s further away from your house. If you don’t feel knowledgeable enough, get the advice of a landscaper or other expert.

Be sure to remover dead plants and leaves from your yard on a regular basis. Keep plants and shrubs trimmed.

Keep up with watering your lawn and vegetation so it is more fire resistant. Don’t let the plant life around your home become too dry because that will put you and your family at risk.

Don’t wait until spring to engage is a little spring cleaning. True, the thought of cleaning is not exactly thrilling, but it is something that needs to be done. If you tend to spend more time indoors during this time of year, why not spend that time inside a house that sparkles and shines?

You don’t even have to clean from top to bottom. Just a little bit here and there makes a difference. And the good thing is that you don’t have to run out and buy a lot of cleaning products, you can give your home a little TLC using things you may already have in your cabinets.

Clear View
You can make your own solution to clean windows. Maybe your mother used to do this, but now you just buy a cleaner. Instead, you can use vinegar. You can use a ½ cup of vinegar to 1 gallon of water or put 2 tablespoons of vinegar in a quart of water. Put the vinegar and water solution in a spray bottle, spray it on your windows, and use a newspaper to wipe the window clean.

At Your Disposal
Keep your garbage disposal fresh by giving it a little attention. You can use citrus fruit to eliminate odors—run orange rind, or small pieces of cut up lemons or limes in your garbage disposal.

Ravishing Rugs
Mix together a ¾ cup of baking soda, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, and ¼ cup of talcum powder to liven up your carpet. Sprinkle the mixture onto a dry carpet and wait about a quarter of an hour, and then run the vacuum over it.

Perhaps your home went through a little wear and tear over the holiday season. Now that you’ve taken down the decorations and gotten back into your daily routines, don’t forget to give your home a little post-holiday rehab.

Did you use a lot of candles during the holidays? If you did, you may have found candle wax in your tablecloths. One way to get rid of the wax is to iron it away. Sandwich the stain between two paper towels and iron over it with a warm iron. The paper towels will absorb the wax.

Did younger guests use your walls as a canvas? You may never have thought of an all- purpose lubricating oil as a solution, since it is usually used for machinery. Spray it on the wall and wipe the wall with a paper towel or clean cloth. You can also try baking soda and a damp cloth.

Did the party get a little out of hand? If someone spilled red wine on your carpet, it is ideal to try to remove the stain right away. If some time has passed, you cans till try to clean the area with cold water and detergent. Hydrogen peroxide may also help.

Check back on Thursday for more on early spring cleaning.

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never get back…

It’s that time again! Time for Little League…well, if you step outside you’ll notice that it is not quite time for Little League, but if you look at the calendar, you’ll see that it is time to sign up for Little League.

In Yosemite the sign up began last weekend at the Yosemite Lakes Park Recreation Center (Long Hollow and Glacier) on January 19, but there is still time to sign up and pay the regular registration fee. It is $70 for registration and there is a $5 discount per sibling. Registration starts at 9am on January 26 and goes until 2pm. Makes sure you get there on time because after 2 pm there is a $15 late registration fee.

You should bring birth certificates and medical insurance for each child you intend to sign up.

And you can consider signing up yourself: they need coaches, managers, announcers, scorekeepers, umpires, and people to help out in the snack shack. You can make Little League a family affair.

Volunteer applications for parents will be available on Saturday when parents go to register their children. Questions? Call 559-683-1588.

Sometimes when we are searching for something we forget to look in the most obvious places. Maybe you or someone you know has been looking for work, combing websites like Monster or CareerBuilder hoping to find that perfect job. Or you’ve signed on to get e-mail updates and everyday look in your inbox hoping that today will be the day that you find the message you’ve been waiting to see.

If this is you, don’t forget to look in your own backyard. The job you’re looking for could be posted on a flyer at your local supermarket or grocery store. It could be listed in the “Help Wanted” section of the local newspaper.

Another place you can look is the Human Resource section of the Madera County website. They have plenty of great jobs. The work you’re looking for could be working to help make life better right here in Madera County. There are open and continuous recruitments for a variety of jobs such as: Fire Equipment Manager, Pre-licensed Mental Health Clinician, Associate Civil Engineer, Correctional Officers, Special Districts Road Manager, Agricultural and Standards Inspectors, Office Assistant, and Registered Dietician.

Go to the website to check out some of the great opportunities that Madera County has to offer.

The word canteen can be traced to French, Italian, and ultimately, Latin and Greek. It may have started as the Greek word kanthos, meaning corner of the eye. Somehow this word is thought to be related to the Latin canthus/cantus, which means iron tire. This lead to canto (corner) and cantina (wine cellar) in Italian. That getting closer to the canteen we know. In the French, cantine can refer to a bottle case.

Where could the iron tire have come from? Maybe for the iron rings that adorn wine barrels.

Flash forward to 18th century English where a canteen could have been a chest for carrying bottles or cooking utensils, a flask for carrying something to drink, a mess kit, and finally a bar or general store at a military post. These are the sort of canteens we are used to hearing about.

The Happy Burger in Mariposa sponsors a canteen that kind of combines several of these definitions. Canteen Coffee Time takes place Mondays from 6:00 am to 10:00 am. This free gathering is for veterans and their spouses. So there are beverages and it is a place for military people to gather, kind of like they would have at a bar or general store on a military base.

Colloidal silver has been touted as a natural solution for combating bacteria, virus, and fungi. In ancient Rome, silver was known to have antibiotic properties. But in modern times, doctors warn against using silver as a remedy. They say that it is dangerous to ingest or even apply the heavy metal to the skin. Yet many people still take it because they’ve heard about what it can do—ease sinus infections, dermatitis and other inflammatory issues, scarlet fever, shingles, and even pneumonia.

One gentleman says taking colloidal silver both internally and topically has helped alleviate some health problems and despite the fact continued use of colloidal silver has turned his skin a noticeable shade of blue, he still uses it.

Recently, I saw him on the Today show talking with Matt Lauer about his condition. His girlfriend accompanied him and there was also a doctor present for the interview. He admitted to getting some stares, some curious questions, and sadly even some less then kind treatment.
This man has actually decided to move to Madera because he felt our area would be more welcoming that where he lived in the past.

Isn’t it nice to know that we live in an area that is known for its great people? Hearing that someone moved her because he felt he would be more accepted just goes to show that we all are doing something right.