Cookbook bakes up tasty Christmas gift with a local flair

I just wrote out a check to my newspaper carrier, Bobbi Hunting.

It felt good. It was right before the snow really started falling and I wanted both Clint and Bobbi Hunting to know I appreciated them.

Then I got to thinking.

When I took the family out to dinner at 5th Avenue recently, I tipped $10 for that meal.

When the pizza guy helped me cook dinner by delivering a Dominoes special, we tipped him $5.

I tip the beautiful women at Fantastic Sam’s at least $4 even though I have less hair every time. I even left a tip at Slates after a visit there on Saturday night.

Did you know that your Daily Bee carrier delivers your paper 313 times a year in the wee hours of the morning?

Did you know our 15 carriers cover more that 1,200 miles a day and deliver papers in three states and two countries?

Did you know they are independent contractors and work for themselves and furnish their own vehicles and pay for all of their own gas, repairs and maintenance?

With gas prices still high, the mornings cold and slippery, won’t you join me in thanking the carriers who deliver your paper every morning, except for those occasional Mondays?

Did you look out your front window this morning. Your carrier was out before the snowplows in most parts of the county.

A plate of cookies also go along way. In fact, one family gave me a pewter container for a Christmas gift when I delivered their paper back in seventh grade and I still have it today.

Thank you, Bee carriers. We couldn’t do it without you! Merry Christmas and have a Happy News Year!

Looking for a great, local Christmas present? The Bonner County Fair Foundation’s “Tasteful Traditions” cookbook should fit the bill.

The cookbook mixes history with tasty recipes sure to please everyone.

The recipe-gathering process started at the 2008 County Fair when foundation members asked complete strangers whether they were residents of the county and if they had a recipe.

“We were amazed by the response,” said Jim Corcoran. The recipes, photos and history stories came rolling in.

The book is available at the Co-op, the Bonner County Historical Museum, Vanderford’s and the fairgrounds office. and is only $14.95. There are only 300 books left out of the 2,000 printed.

Sometimes you just can’t win.

We had a person cancel their subscription last week because we ran a big story on Ambassador Ryan Crocker in the Thursday paper and didn’t run a large enough story on Sarah Palin.

The only problem was, Mrs. Palin wasn’t due in town until Thursday so it would be impossible to write a story about her appearance the day before she arrived.

On Friday, another reader canceled his Bee because we make him “puke in his Corn Flakes” because of our coverage of Sarah Palin’s visit.

Two down, 5,500 to go. It is a good thing we had five new starts on those days to replace our two former readers who apparently enjoy life on the fringe.

If you haven’t been to a high school basketball game this year, make sure you do. The Bulldog boys are awesome and play a fast brand of hoops. The girls are getting better every week and play with their hearts.

Check out the schedule in the Bee and consider supporting SHS basketball. While you are in the gym, take a look around at all of the state championship banners hanging in there.

Sandpoint grows champions.

E-mail of the week: There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is ‘UP’

It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP. To be

knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP ….

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn’t rain for awhile, things dry UP.One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP , for now my time is UP , so … it is time to shut UP!

Oh, one more thing:

What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?

U-P.

n David Keyes is publisher of the Bee.