Carson family living a 'Normal' life

They are a typical family who live in Carson City and are a part of our community.

"There's nothing special about us at all," said Sandra Nowling as we began our visit. "We're just normal people living a normal life and enjoying it all. Nothing to write home about."

Well, I guess that's that. Another column in the bag. See you next week!

OK, I was just kidding. Normal or not, it's time to meet Sandra and Jeff Nowling and daughter Chelsey and later we've got some information to pass along regarding Sandra's job, but that'll have to wait awhile.

"Jeff and I have been together 18 years and married for 12 years," said Sandra. "Chelsey is 11 and was born at Carson-Tahoe Hospital. I was born in Torrance, Calif., and Jeff was born in in San Jose. I've lived in Carson City since my family moved here from Las Vegas when I was 6 years old. Jeff's family moved here in 1966."

Sandra's mom, Darlene, is 66 and still lives here. Her dad, Robert, passed away 20 years ago from health problems at 62. Sandra is 42 years old.

"Jeff's dad, Jesse, passed away 12 years ago, also from health problems and he was in his early 60s, too," added Sandra. "His dad worked for Meeks Lumber for many years. His mom, Nola, is 75 and lives just outside of Fresno in Laton, Calif."

Sandra is the third of four children. Debbie, 44, and Ron, 43, live in Las Vegas. Bob, 37, lives in Roseville, Calif.

"I met Jeff, who is 46, through my little brother who once worked for Jeff," said Sandra happily. "He and my friend Sharon got us together. It was love at first sight. He's a great guy. We were married right here in Carson City."

Jeff used to work for Lewis Homes as their general superintendent of the construction end of the business.

"He was with them 15 years," noted Sandra. "Last October, Jeff started his own business called Nowling Construction Inc. He's a framing and general contractor."

Sandra works for AT&T Cable Services (formerly TCI Cable) in Carson City.

"I'm in customer service and I've been with them for 20 years," said Sandra. "And we're now in our new location in the Eagle Station Shopping Center just north of Raley's."

The company used to be located in the Evergreen Center, which was great for me. I could walk over from the Appeal to do my business there, but not anymore, and Sandra wanted all AT&T customers to know about the new location.

"We moved here Jan. 17 and we're in the same location as Check 'n Go next to the laundromat," she said. "We have the same services we had at the old office, including free popcorn."

She said that for me because every time I went in to pay my bill, I'd always grab a bag of popcorn before I left. The address for AT&T Cable Services is 3689 S. Carson Street. If you have questions, call 882-2136.

FAMILY & FUN

At home, the Nowling family has a cat, Abby, who is a 2-year-old Siamese, plus a few other creatures like a baby tortoise, a hamster and a salamander. The turtle came from "The Turtle Lady" in Minden.

"Chelsey loves turtles and wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up," explained her mom proudly. "She also plays guitar, sings - she has a beautiful voice - and she likes to perform in plays. She's performed at the BAC (Brewery Arts Center) and she likes to do that."

Jeff is "into the stock market" and does a lot of trading on the Internet and he also owns and rides a Fatboy Harley that Sandra rides on too.

"I'm the passenger only," she laughed. "I don't drive it at all. That's one of his toys."

The family likes to go backpacking when they're not at home.

"We're backpackers and we go at least a couple of times a year," said Sandra. "We go to places like Saddlebags Lake in California. We pack in for a few days at a time. It's fun and we enjoy doing that as a family. We like to stay home, too. We're just a normal family living a great but normal life here in Carson City."

That's where we started and now it's time to end our visit with Sandra, so we'll say, "Goodbye," to Sandra and her "normal" family.

ENOUGH ALREADY

I surrender. The U.S. Post Office wins. I've now got enough plastic bags to last a lifetime. Seems like they insist on putting my daily mail - which is usually just one piece - into a plastic bag along with one of those Today's Mail cards, and I wish they would stop!

Not only are the bags an annoying waste, in my opinion, they do not get recycled and wind up in the trash. What a waste. I have yet to talk with anyone who likes them, especially the mail carriers I've talked to about it.

"I hate them," said one carrier to me. "It adds a couple of extra hours a day on to my job."

There are 24 units in my apartment building and if we are any kind of an example, all those bags do is fill up our trash containers and are a pain in the you-know-what. I've yet to meet even one person who recycles them.

Not only that, I've received more wrongly addressed mail in the last couple of months since this started than I ever did in all the years of mail delivery before that.

Makes me wonder how much of my mail was delivered to the wrong address. Except for what we all call "junk mail day" I wish they'd stop, and the good news is they will.

"It will end on April 7," said that mail carrier. "And did you know of all the cities in the country, Carson City is the only one doing this?"

Lucky us ....

A BAD RAP

Yes, I saw the A&E TV show last week about Virginia City and not only did it stink, it wasn't very accurate and portrayed the city in a bad light. But I'm sure you've either seen it too or read about the show in the Nevada Appeal.

However, you can see the real Virginia City tonight on our Street Talk TV Show on Carson Access Television channel 10 at 6 p.m. You'll see everything from the camel races to the Mountain Oyster competition to the Cinco de Mayo chili cookoff and lots more as we visit with the people of VC and show you many aspects of the city you may have never seen before. The show repeats Monday at 8 a.m.

ALAN ROGERS is a Nevada Appeal columnist. His message phone is 887-2430, ext. 402.