Esther Oertel of Hidden Valley Lake is the new Friendly Visitor Program director. Courtesy photo.

CLEARLAKE – Esther Oertel of Hidden Valley Lake is the new program director for the Friendly Visitor Program where volunteers offer friendship, understanding and companionship on a regular basis to South Lake County seniors having limited access to outside activities.

The free program is administered by Konocti Senior Support, Inc., which also provides senior peer counseling throughout Lake County.

“As the Friendly Visitor Program Director, Esther will expand communities of Friendly Visitors,” said Lawrence Grant, board president, Konocti Senior Support Inc. “We currently serve seniors in Clearlake Oaks, Spring Valley, Clearlake, Lower Lake, Kelseyville and Middletown.”

Program volunteers are trained and participate in monthly supervision meetings.

Oertel earned her Associate of Arts Degree from Santa Rosa Junior College. She formerly worked for Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Clearlake.

She can be reached at 995-1417.

Konocti Senior Support, Inc., incorporated in 1995, is a nonprofit public service corporation dedicated to enhancing seniors’ quality of life. All services are free.

For more information, contact Gwen Snyder at 995-1417.

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The show airs at 10 a.m.

Saro Fleishman is an elementary school teacher and her father teaches on mass media and has taught public speaking at Mendocino College. He also worked in Hollywood with writers and producers for many years, and has a sense of the power of the media, including great stories, to inspire change.

Both Norman and Saro Fleishman spent some of their formative years at Play Mountain Place, a humanistic alternative school founded by Norman's dad and stepmother more than 60 years ago.

They believe the atmosphere at the school was conducive to encouraging a sense of being a citizen of the world, and will discuss how what they learned at Play Mountain Place can translate into today’s educational system.

The program will repeat the following Monday morning at 9 a.m.

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The show will feature works of the members of the Clear Lake Quilt Guild, renowned weaver Sheila O'Hara and her students, and members of the Sheep Thrills Spinning and Weaving Guild.

The public also is invited to show their work and items will be accepted for the rest of July.

The show can be seen during regular museum hours, Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m to 4 p.m.

An artists' reception will take place Saturday, Aug. 9, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., with spinning and weaving demonstrations by the Sheep Thrills Spinning and Weaving Guild and Sheila O'Hara and her students.

The Schoolhouse Museum is located at 16435 Main St. in Lower Lake.

For more information please call 995-3565.

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Kimberly Walker and one of her Suffolk/Hampshire-cross lambs. Courtesy photo.

Hi, my name is Kimberly Walker. I am 16 years old and this is my seventh year in 4-H.

I can’t wait for the start of the fair on Aug. 28. I will be bringing my Suffolk/Hampshire cross lambs Chips and Salsa.

I have been exercising them and monitoring their weight gain so that they are the appropriate weight by the fair. In my sheep project, we’ve learned all about different breeds and diseases as well as things like how to shear our sheep, showmanship techniques and lamb science.

This year the fair’s theme is “1950’s: Let The Good Times Roll,” so we're all very busy planning our educational displays to put by our animal pens at the livestock barn.

But getting to the fair isn’t just about raising our animals – no, we also have to attend at least 80 percent of our monthly club meetings and 100 percent of our animal project meetings. We also have to do a presentation at either a project meeting, club meeting or our countywide presentation day event – whether that be an educational display, a presentation, a speech or a play.

This year my brother, friends and I earned a gold award doing a play that was a twist on “American Idol” and “America’s Got Talent,” and it was a lot of fun. We also have to send out buyer letters and market our animals individually.

There are multiple ways to purchase animals at auction and it is very simple to buy an animal with another person and split the meat and the cost. For more information on this, contact the fair office at (707) 263-6181.

This will be my second year taking two market lambs to the Lake County Fair. In previous years at the fair I have shown my two Mini Rex rabbits and entered various still exhibits. This past year I was president of the Kelseyville 4-H Club. I also participated in the scrap booking, horse and leadership projects. I am also Teen leader of the countywide shooting sport project. This coming year I will be working very hard on my All Star project.

Outside of 4-H I am involved in the Konocti Rod and Gun Club, Lake County B.S.A. Venture Crew No. 44 and I volunteer at Wiloth Equine Center in Lower Lake.

My friends and I have been working hard all year to learn about our animals and prepare them for the fair. So please come and support FFA and other 4-Hers like myself by purchasing a high-quality, grain-fed, hand-raised animal at the Junior Livestock Auction on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 1 p.m.

The 4-H Youth Development program is a part of the University of California Cooperative Extension. For more information contact U.C. Cooperative Extension, 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport, telephone 263-6838.

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Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club members Ann Blue, Claire Grieve, Carol Kesey, Jo Shaul, Jerry Shaul Sr., June Beto, Jan Kespohl, Mary Secord, Jo Douville, Nora Gerrard, Carol Brabrook and Linda Pyers visiting the Penny Pines Plantation. Courtesy photo.

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST – Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club members enjoyed a recent field trip to the Mendocino National Forest.

During their visit, they traveled to the Forks Fire area to visit the Penny Pines Plantation area and to see the new sign in recognition of contributions towards reforestation.

The Penny Pines program has been supported by Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club since 1990. The club and its members have purchased 45 plantations at a cost of $3,060.

For a contribution of $68 the forest service plants one acre of land with 350 seedlings and sends a certificate to present to the person either in honor or memory of, and enters their name on a sign in the reforestation area.

The field trip was planned by Penny Pines Chair Ann Blue. Other members were President Claire Grieve, founding member Carol Kesey, Jo Shaul, Jerry Shaul Sr., June Beto, Jan Kespohl, Mary Secord, Jo Douville, Nora Gerrard, Carol Brabrook and Linda Pyers.

The group met Ranger Nancy Mulligan at the Upper Lake Ranger Station. They car pooled to Deer Valley Camp Ground site of the Forks Fire area.

Ranger Mulligan explained how the program is implemented. She demonstrated the planting of a seedling, identified many different plants, and how to determine the age of the young pine tree. The club's many questions were answered and we came away with a better understanding of the vital role of the US Forestry Service.

Before their return home the club enjoyed a brown bag lunch at the campground.

Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club is a member of Mendo-Lake District, California Garden Club Inc., Pacific Region and National Garden Clubs Inc.

All are welcome to join Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club, which has many exciting and rewarding ongoing projects. Meetings are held the third Tuesday, September through June.

The Penny Pines program is open to the general public. Anyone interested is in more information, please call 263-5854.

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The headquarters is currently operating for the month of July on Wednesdays, Fridays and occasional Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 6260 No. B Highway 20, at the corner of 13th Avenue and Highway 20 in Lucerne. Contact the headquarters at 274-8862 for information.

Campaign materials, literature, yard signs, buttons, bumper stickers for all of the Democratic candidates are available to the public for a small donation.

These donations will be used to keep the headquarters open through the election season.

Volunteers are welcome to contact the headquarters about opportunities to register voters, work with the Democratic clubs and get involved with the coordinated campaigns of all Democratic candidates from the presidential to local races.

Volunteers who wish to work on specific campaigns for any of the Democratic candidates can come by or call the headquarters to sign up.

Democratic volunteers are also being sought to staff the headquarters.

Hours will be expanded as more volunteers sign up to help and as the campaigns move into the official election season after Labor Day.

Generous donations from Democratic legislators and candidates who represent, or hope to represent, Lake County in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento were received to assist the Lake County Democrats in opening the campaign office in Lake County.

Democratic County Committee member Patricia Voulgaris donated the space for the headquarters.

Congressman Mike Thompson, Assemblywoman Patty Berg, state Senator Pat Wiggins and Assembly District 1 candidate Wes Chesbro all contributed critical resources to the effort. Their continued participation in assisting Democratic volunteers in Lake County is invaluable.

All of the county's grassroots Democratic clubs and members of the Democratic County Committee donated materials, held yard sales and invested many hours of volunteer time to get the office ready for business.

Contact the Lake County Democrats at 707.274.8862 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

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