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Wednesday, November 29, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
BUNKHOUSE CHRONICLE
Th e Mill Party
By Craig Rullman,, Columnist
FREE T-SHIRT!
With any
$
25 purchase
(Offer valid through 12-24-17)
541-549-2059
216 W. Cascade Ave.
Fantastic Mexican Food,
Margaritas & Gift Card Sale
Many of our recipes have been
handed down for generations
— and we create new menu
items & specials all the time.
Join us for lunch, dinner
or one of our many
specialty margaritas.
I am sentimental about sawmills. That’s
especially true around Christmas because the
Sierra Pacific sawmill — at one time the sec-
ond largest of its kind in the United States —
was also the principal private employer where
I was raised, in the sparsely populated north-
east corner of California.
My stepfather worked at Sierra Pacific for
over 20 years, rolling logs in the millpond,
pulling chain, freezing through graveyard
shifts in the stacker house, and finally loading
long lines of trucks and boxcars on a forklift.
Like every man in that industry, he worked like
a Georgia mule, sometimes seven days a week,
and never once did anyone hear him complain.
I often wonder what went through his mind
on those long, very cold, and chaotic nights in
the lumber mill, or the blistering-hot summer
days, when just about anyplace on earth prob-
ably felt like a better place to be. And I cherish
memories of those dark mornings when, as I
lay awake in my warm bed, he came home and
slipped into the house like a ghost. I would lie
in bed and listen as he quietly stoked the wood-
stove in the living room, so that when we all got
up for school the house would still be warm.
Throughout my childhood, our fortunes rose
and fell with the vagaries of the timber indus-
try. There were lean times, when my stepfather
would bring home a notice on company letter-
head from “Red” Emmerson — who had built
a small empire of lumber mills across north-
ern California from the ground up — lament-
ing with enviable sincerity a series of layoffs.
And those days were made still leaner when
the sawmill whistle, which blew every day at
noon over the town of Susanville, went terri-
bly and awkwardly silent, and we sat on my
mother’s bed counting out nickels and pennies
to pay for school pictures.
My step-dad would make up the difference
by feeding out cattle for our neighbors. He
would cross the creek below our place — we
lived far out of town — on a slippery old 2
by 12, then walk up the hill to the hay yards
where hungry cattle stood covered in ice and
bawling, on mornings so cold he had to use
a blowtorch to unlock the tractor tires where
they had frozen to the ground.
But even in those rougher times there was
an abiding sense of local community that
bound families together. There was no notion
See THE MILL PARTY on page 21
Sisters Bakery
10% OFF GIFT CARDS
OF $60 OR MORE!
Mention this ad
541-549-3594
150 E. Cascade Ave.
Have
yourself a
tasty litt le
Christmas
All your favorite
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our pastries, cakes,
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541-549-0361
251 E. Cascade Ave.,
Hours: 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day
A FUNDRAISER FOR FURRY FRIENDS
Pet Photos
with Santa
Saturday, December 2
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sisters Art Works, 204 W. Adams
Please give this holiday
season to Furry Friends.
Donate online at
www.furryfriendsfoundation.com
or send your check to Furry Friends Foundation,
PO Box 1175, Sisters, OR 97759
No holiday feast is complete without a pie.
And Santa Claus has worked hard to earn those
Christmas cookies.
Local folks know that Sisters Bakery is the
place to go for delectable baked goods — from
donuts to pies. And locals aren’t the only ones.
Many travelers make Sisters Bakery a must-
stop on their journey through Central Oregon.
Sisters Bakery is a family business, and the
bakers put love into their offerings. You’ll find
pecan pie, pumpkin pie and many variations on apple pies
baked fresh every day. Delight in originals like marionberry pie; raspberry rhubarb and peach.
And new family recipes are being added in.
Don’t wait to get your holiday orders in — place your order now to ensure that your
Christmas table will feature some of the most delicious goodies to be found anywhere.
And by all means, stop in during the busy season for a hot cup of coffee and a roll or donut.
Furry Fiends Pet Photos with Santa
It’s time for Furry Friends’ annual Pet Photos with
Santa, Saturday, December 2, at Sisters Art Works
at the corner of Ash and Adams. Pets — and some-
times their owners — pose with Santa. There will be
hand-drawn personalized ornaments for sale there,
too.
The event will be held during the Sisters Art
Works Holiday Open House.
Furry Friends is currently accepting donations
for their annual pet-food drive, and cash donations
are greatly needed to purchase pet food. Donors can also
purchase food directly at Sisters Feed Co. and they’ll deliver it for you. The annual pet-food
distribution, December 16, is in coordination with Sisters Kiwanis and Sisters-Camp Sherman
RFPD. The annual drive traditionally feeds approximately 300 pets in the Sisters area.
Donations can still be dropped off at The Nugget office, 442 E. Main Ave., made online at
www.furryfriendsfoundation.org, or by mail to P.O. Box 1175, Sisters, OR 97759.