It also felt good to pass the two-year anniversary of the shut down and not be shut down again. Or even partly shut down.

Then Thursday came and while I was leading a discussion on the documentary we had just watched, I noticed two of my students looking very worried. I thought they had lost something, so I walked over to help and that’s when they told me they had seen a mouse.

A mouse?! My classroom turned a little chaotic as some students pulled up their feet into their seats and others stomped around in boots trying to find it. But we didn’t have any luck.

Until yesterday, when I sat down at my desk to plan the week and noticed the small, still, brown body to the left of my feet. The mouse had lost to the sticky trap.

At first, I was happy. There’s one pest I don’t have to worry about anymore!

But then I became nostalgic as I thought about one of my favorite childhood books, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.H.M. I hoped that this mouse had no children at home or mysterious rats to meet up with.

One minute I was celebrating a rodent’s demise and the next I was remembering the rich, gravelly voice of Mrs. Carol Carver, my third and fourth-grade teacher, as she read aloud to us every day after lunch.

She would turn down the lights and we would all sit at our desks enraptured with whatever the latest book was. The Bears Upstairs, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Mrs. Frisby. Mrs. Carver always made the best choices.

They were good stories, had characters who wrestled with dilemmas, and contained universal truths that could be applied to many life situations. We didn’t talk about the theme or take a test, we just enjoyed them.

By fourth grade, I was already deep in love with the written word, but Mrs. Carver challenged me to read difficult texts, asked the hard questions, and even put me and a friend in charge of organizing the classroom library.

Andrea and I spend hours creating a check out system, alphabetizing the fiction, and cataloging the nonfiction using the Dewey Decimal System. Our librarian Lee Woods was our mentor. We had labels, cards, and a date stamp. So official!

I will always be grateful to those two women who saw a spark in me that needed to be kindled.

Age 4 and under – What’s your Favorite Vegetable?

TK to 2nd grade – What’s your Favorite Fruit?

3rd to 5th grade – What can you do to be Healthy?

6th to 8th grade – What can you do to be Healthy?

9th to 12th grade – Choose a Health Topic.

Pick up a coloring sheet from your school or download from publichealth.org or create your own original artwork on what you think Public Health is.

Your art entry must be 8 ½” x 11” or 9” x 12”, including digital artwork. Email entries can be sent to pheprograms@co.lassen.ca.us.

Entries must include the entrant’s name, age, school, email and phone number.

A committee of Public Health and Healthcare professionals will select the winners, who will be notified, and prizes will be awarded and announced on Wednesday, April 6th, at the Public Health Open House.

All of the submitted artwork will be displayed on the Public Health Facebook page and at the Public Health building.

Everyone is invited to come visit Lassen Public Health at their Open House on April 6th, from 1:00 until 4:00p.m. Enjoy free popcorn, and fresh fruit from the CalFresh Healthy Living program.

Hole sponsorships are also available at $200 each.

You can sign up at the golf course’s clubhouse or call Naomi at 1.530.310.3496.

Scholarship applications are available at the LMUD office located at 65 South Roop Street or can be downloaded by clicking here.

Return the application along with a completed essay from one of the topics listed on the application along with an official transcript and a resume detailing your goals, hobbies, activities, awards, and achievements. Applications may be hand-delivered to the LMUD office, or you may mail it to:

Lassen Municipal Utility District, ATTN: Scholarship Program, 65 S. Roop Street, Susanville, CA 96130.

Applications must be received no later than April 29th.

Supervisor Lester Coffin stated that the recent increase at the Lassen county hospital on charges from $3.50 to $10 a day would affect few patients.

Coffin said the increase was approved by the supervisors so in case patients who could afford to pay that amount were hospitalized at the county, the charges could be made.

Coffin said the county hospital operated at a large loss each year, and the approval of the increase was made to cut the losses whenever possible.

Figures on the hospital operation show that in 1950-51 the expenditures were $62,729.06 and the revenue only $2,539.08. In 1951-52 the expenses were $66,901.54 and revenue $7,543.17.

The hospital has on average about 45 patients, and of this number, only a small percentage are pay patients.