By Shelley Bennett
Growing up in Susanville was definitely some “good stuff.” I remember idyllic Spring days spent on my grandma’s ranch on Old Johnstonville Rd.
One day is particular that stands out was during Easter Break when my brother Casey and I were staying with grandma while my mom worked.
We proudly made ourselves some egg salad sandwiches and packed them with chips, juice, and probably a suitable fruit. Casey and I set off down the lane to the irrigation pump where we planned to sit and eat our feast.
Unfortunately, at some time on our journey, our vintage Snoopy lunch pail opened and dumped our lunch on the dusty, dirt road. Leaving a trail of not just breadcrumbs, but whole sandwiches and bags of chips, like some kind of far-sighted Hansel and Gretel.
We didn’t notice until we arrived at our destination. We were hungry, tired, and very disappointed. I started to blame the loss on my little brother, but one look at his face changed my mind. I don’t remember exactly what was left of our lunch, but we made do.
A few minutes later, grandma arrived to check on us and had picked up our spilled lunch as she followed our shoeprints. Somehow, she made it all better, like grandmas tend to do.
It probably ended with us having soup and a sandwich on a TV tray with my grandpa while watching Days of our Lives.
We used to have epic Easter Egg hunts at grandma’s. She had a huge yard with all sorts of good hiding spots: the eye socket of a dried cow skull, in the crook of an old Oak tree, and in the little chinks of the split rail fence.
That was back when we hid the real eggs, so there was usually a smelly surprise found a few months later. Surprisingly, none of us ever died from botulism or salmonella or whatever it is you get from eating hard boiled eggs that had been repeatedly hid and found over the course of a couple of hours.
Casey and I grew up without cousins or our little sister Alison who would arrive on an Easter Sunday some years later. It was usually just us at grandma’s and life was good at the Diamond S ranch.
Remember when news was ‘newsy’? When you read about weddings, family events and engagement announcements in the newspaper? If you have something that might be newsworthy, please submit it to [email protected] and I’ll do my best to include it here in “The Good Stuff.”
