So much has been happening here in Dunsmuir that I just have to write you a note.  I keep wanting to call and tell you this stuff as it happens, but then I get distracted by more stuff and the time just slips away.  The dawning of this realization originated with the Tulips you see in the picture.  Early spring, and the new color on the scene just had an amazing cathartic effect after a very long winter.  I was inspired to visit the fish hatchery and Sisson Museum.  My friend, Perry Simms is running the museum now and it has become a "don't miss" attraction if you haven't seen it in the last few months - lots of info on our fish, our water and, of course, horses to the top of Mt Shasta.  But I really went there to talk with the hatchery guys. Good news for Catch and Release fishing in our town; not only are they stocking fish this spring which will relieve the pressure on the native population that reside in the Hook and Cook section (I talked to guys on the river yesterday and it appears there are catchables in the river already), but also, they are trying to switch to triploid trout.  This won't happen right away, so right now they are still stocking regular trout. But soon!

You could look up triploid, but I found this handy explanation:

"When trout spawn, the female’s eggs possess two sets of chromosomes and the male’s sperm possess one set. After the eggs are fertilized, the chromosomes recombine and each egg inherits one set of chromosomes from the female and another set from the male — similar to humans. The third set is then kicked out of the egg. Rarely in the wild, an egg will “forget” to kick out the third set and the fish becomes what is known as a triploid (possessing three sets of chromosomes). Triploid fish look, swim, jump, and taste like normal fish, except for one important difference—they never develop normal eggs or sperm and are unable to reproduce (i.e., they are sterile)."

That should take care of the controversy of mixing hatchery trout with native trout.  One side effect of the triploid trout; the females don't have anywhere to put the energy it takes to be pregnant, so they get very large instead! 

But about the Tulips.  They just seem to burst out of the ground even though spring is having a hard time convincing us that it has arrived, analogous to our little town's economy.  Dunsmuir has looked dormant all winter as many store fronts are empty, and others businesses like Sengthong's closed for vacation ( Sengthong went to Thailand).  But behind the scenes, people were working.  The Economic Development committee, with a goal of attracting four new businesses to the downtown area by 2012, created the Traveling Gallery, and has filled empty store fronts with Art.  Even though I knew about this idea months ahead of time, I was completely surprised by the effect. It is really fun!   And one of the empty stores will be a real Art Gallery until that store rents, and then another empty store will become the Gallery.   As you know, we have some real kick-ass artists in this area.

Meanwhile, Don is expanding Sengthong's to restart the retail sauce business Sengthong had while they were in Etna.  You can have a Sengthong Salad dressing or Sticky Rice dip sauce in your own kitchen!  Vince opened the restaurant across from the theater. The Hitching Post is reopening as a breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurant.  And the Big News, the water bottling company has been purchased. An herb company, Flora, Inc., is going to bottle product there. Eventually they will have three shifts, round the clock work: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!!!!

Cave Springs cabins are jammed this Memorial Day and for the first time in my memory, all of the sinks and showers (almost all) have been painted before June.  One personal triumph; Rosewood, a manufactured home that I bought forever ago just to tear it down, is finally gone!  We have replaced it with a really cute RV Park Model with a spa! 

More??  OK.  Shasta Lake is two and a half feet from the top!  Last week Belinda got her MFA, Megan her Bachelors, and D'Arcy her Juris Doctorate.  We got real learn'n at Cave Springs :-)

Hope this letter brings some optimism to your day.  I know it is fun to have new stuff to look forward to when you get here. . .soon. . . Hint Hint 

Cheers, Louie