Opinion

  What if you swerve to avoid a deer in the Feather River Canyon and your car veers into the river?

  What if you fry chicken for dinner and a grease fire ignites your kitchen?

  How the hell did I get myself into this mess?

  That’s what I was thinking a few weeks ago as my wife, our dog and I trudged down a cold and lonely dirt road in the mountains, miles from civilization.

  My usually trusty four-wheel-drive Toyota was hopelessly stuck in a little patch of snow no bigger than a slip-n-slide.

  Many of us know what it’s like to see a loved one grow older. We see the joys that a grandparent experiences, but also the hardships that come with health issues and becoming more dependent on others. Often, we ride the “roller coaster of health” with them. As we do, it can be difficult to know how to best help our loved ones continue to live long, healthy and fulfilling lives.

  After more than half a decade in the dumps, Plumas County might be ready to emerge from the depths of the Great Recession. At least it looks like we have hit the bottom.

  A story in last week’s Sacramento Bee offered a ray of hope for our local real estate market. Granted, it usually takes time for surging housing prices to reach rural areas, but the housing market in California cities is red hot. And no city is booming more than Sacramento.