House Calls runs every other Thursday. Today’s column is written by Melissa Ford, clinical director of Sutter Coast Home Care.

Emptiness, sadness, anxiety, and anger; these are just some of the emotions that a person may experience when facing a life-threatening illness or the loss of a loved one.

It is helpful to know what to expect, how to care for your loved one, and what to do when you think you can no longer go through the process alone.

It is not easy to specify exactly what will happen during the end of life process, as each person is unique. Sometimes the news of a life-threatening illness is sudden, and other times it is expected.

Editor’s note: The Del Norte 4-H column appears every four weeks. Today’s column was written by Christine Jones and Valerie Machado.

Our annual soup supper and country auction was held on Nov. 5. We had a great turnout.

We would like to thank all of the businesses and individuals who helped make this year’s event a success. Special thank-yous to:  Cyndi Acosta, Lavonna Butz, Katherine Blakely, Angela Hanks, Taylor Jones, Val, Ana, Kaitlyn and Maurice Machado, Jody Marks, Darlene Merriwether, Zoee Mohr, Marci, Jon, Alex, Maudie Mae and McNeely  Olson, and Tammie Toreson.

Upcoming service project

This year Giddy Up N Goat 4-H club will continue its annual Christmas community service project of sponsoring a local family for Christmas.

Former three-sport Warrior standout Rod Griffin was elected into the Del Norte High School Athletic Hall of Fame last September. Rod was a former teammate of mine.

Unfortunately, Rod passed away several years ago. Since we were unable to locate any of his family, I received the award for Rod at the induction ceremony.

 Now, as a member of the Hall of Fame committee, I am asking for help in finding a family member to present Rod’s award to. I know that after graduating from Del Norte, he went on to the University of California, Berkeley.

Yoga Bites will appear every four weeks.

The winter holidays can be exciting, magical and fun-packed.  They can also be stressful, depressing and pressure-packed.

As with everything, the only control we posses lies in our attitudes and reactions (or ideally non-reaction). We can use these challenges as opportunities to practice our yoga off the mat, and keep calm at center even in the storm of the holidays.

Take a moment to ground yourself. Sit or stand comfortably and place your palms together in front of your heart in anjali mudra as you breathe in and out slowly and consciously.  Think about the things in your life that fill you with warm fuzzies and joy – your loved ones, your pets, your home.  Turn the corners of your mouth up. We have 80 muscles in our face, and a single smile sends signals to the brain that trigger feel-good chemicals. Smiling is a mood-enhancer.

Editor’s note: CRDN Report will appear every four weeks.

Steven Bevier

Some of the goings-on at the campus affect the community as a whole, or community members can participate in some of the events.

Before I go any further I would like to take this time to introduce and tell you a little about myself and just what it is that I do at CRDN.

Editor’s note: Longtime Del Norte County resident Chuck Blackburn’s column appears every fourth Thursday.

Back in the 1960s my father and I loved to spend a day cutting firewood. One of our favorite places was in the mountains surrounding Big Flat.

South Fork Road provides a wonderful drive of 15 miles from Second Bridge to the valley just past Hurdy Gurdy Bridge. Most of our woodcutting on Forest Service land was done on French Hill Road, Ship Mountain Road or the GO Road (Gasquet-Orleans Road). These great woodcutting adventures really introduced me to this unique area.

Editor’s note: Del Norte Students appears every four weeks.

The overall experience of being in high school is hard to describe.

To the outside world, high school life might seem like repetition: wake up, get ready, go to school, go to practice, go home, do homework, eat, sleep, wake up and do it all again the next day.

I’m sorry, but this is far from an accurate itinerary. Our lives are not the equivalent to the directions on the back of a shampoo bottle, (lather, rinse, repeat). High school in general is far too diverse to be explained in a single definition; no one has identical fingerprints, so why would we have identical lives?

During the years that I have been associated with Del Norte athletics since returning to Crescent City in 1980, I have been really impressed with the quality of the young people who have been a part of the Warrior athletic programs.

Not just with their ability to compete, but with the great character that they show over and over. This goes for both the boys and girls programs.

This is why I enjoy the privilege I have to write about so many of these individuals. Dylan Ridgley, a 1992 graduate, is one of those special people. When Dylan entered Del Norte in the fall of 1988 he immediately made his presence known as a running back on the freshman team. As a sophomore he continued to show great improvement.

House Calls runs every two weeks. Today’s column is written by Aleen Huston, respiratory care practitioner and certified respiratory therapist at Sutter Coast Hospital.

During the cold-weather months, hospital facilities are on high alert, especially Sutter Coast Hospital, for Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

RSV is a childhood infection as common as influenza. It’s responsible for one of every 13 visits to a pediatrician and one of every 38 emergency room trips. It infects most children sooner or later (usually before the age of 2). It often starts out with cold symptoms. For many babies and young children, the virus is no more troublesome than a cold. RSV infections usually occur during the winter months, with its peak in January and February in the Del Norte County.

Editor’s note: Yoga Bites will appear every four weeks.

Here we are again, cycling into the season when crunchy leaves fall and you can feel the crispness of the earthy air at earlier and earlier sunsets.

We are entering the time of year when practicing heat-building yoga postures can help us stoke up a bonfire at center to increase warmth and circulation throughout the body, as well as burn “the trash,” whatever we do not want or need any more.

Remember as a child how being fully present was all you knew? Around this time back then you were usually planning your next greatest costume. Let your childlike nature emerge as you pretend to be a valiant Warrior-Sage.