All posts by jd

Real estate broker, civil engineer and general contractor.

Kickstarter Campaign: The Art Docent Program Goes Digital

May 16, 2012 jd

The Art Docent Program has a great history with Nevada County Schools… Since the program was founded twenty-five years ago, eighteen of our schools have adopted the program. Thousands of Nevada County kids have enjoyed it, and refrigerators of proud parents throughout the county have been decorated with their brilliant art.

Today, The Art Docent Program™ of Gold River, CA is launching a campaign on Kickstarter.com, the revolutionary website for funding art, music, film and tech projects. The project is called “The Art Docent Program Goes Digital!”

View the Project on Kickstarter.com

The Art Docent Program provides a sequential, interactive education in art history and artistic skills for K-6 grade children, which can be taught by volunteers called “docents”, and are led by coordinator; the “head docent”. The program is available for schools, after-school and summer programs, or any occasion where creative kids can make art.

Once the children see great works by famous artists on subjects such as “Mothers & Children”, “Pets”, or “Musicians” in various styles and periods, they can try their own hand, with age-appropriate materials and guidance.

View the Art Docent Program website at ArtDocentProgram.com

Initially developed in 1984 by art educator and author Barbara Herberholz, the Art Docent Program has been periodically updated. It has a proven track record of over 25 years in hundreds of schools using binders of training materials, and posters of famous works of art.

But the art posters were large, came in over 50 portfolio cases, cost a small fortune, and over years they took a beating in the classroom. When Barbara’s daughters, Amy Scherschligt and Heidi Grasty took over managing the program, they began modernizing it. For the last year, a beta-version of the digital program has been enthusiastically adopted by thirteen schools in California, Utah and Washington.

Microsoft Windows 8, Microsoft You Must Be Kidding

May 15, 2012 jd

Windows 8 Start. Note that when you first get into the Start you have such useless apps such as camera, XBox games, Xbox live and other apps of no use to a business PC.

I made the mistake of downloading the trial version of Windows 8 thinking it was an upgrade to Windows 7. No, it’s tablet software and downloading it on a PC is, like Microsoft are you kidding? Why don’t you tell people its tablet software and not suitable for PC’s?

The first thing that comes up after you figure out that you have to tap any button on your keyboard to log in is an interface that Microsoft calls Metro or the start screen. I’m sure that’s a wonderful tablet feature. So the first thing I did once I roamed around for a while was to get rid of such useful things as Xbox live, Maps, Messaging, Camera (my PC does not have a camera) and a whole bunch of worthless apps that might be useful on a tablet but not on a PC and most of them will not work on your PC anyway.

As I stumbled around, I finally got to the normal interface and away from Metro. Now where is the start button? Oh, Microsoft did away with the start button. So I Goggled to find out what happened to the familiar start button that’s been with every version of Windows. Well, it’s gone. So more searching and there is a workaround by downloading ViStart. ViStart puts the start button back where it was on all the other Window versions.

Now how do I find my programs without ViStart? Well, programs are now apps. You get back to Metro, left click your mouse, look at the far left corner and there is a rectangle. Click on that and your programs, err, apps appear and are spread out with little icons over four acres of real estate. It would be OK if it was a tablet, but on my PC, you had to use your mouse and slide the apps across the screen. I use 1920 x 1080 resolution. I don’t know what it would look like if I used a lower resolution, maybe like it was on 10 acres of real estate and you would scroll for an hour.

There's that icon "Setting". click on that, click on the power icon and than you can restart or put your computer to sleep. Of course to get there you have to go to the lower right corner with your mouse to pop up those icons.

So the next question, how do I turn my computer off or put it to sleep? First time I had to Google to figure out how to turn off a computer. Well, you go to the far right corner and some icons come up. Click on the lower right hand corner and several icons come up, including settings. Click on settings and there it is “power”. Click again on power and you can put your computer to sleep, restart or shut down. Are you getting it now? Click, click, click.

So after playing with Windows 8 for awhile, I went to recovery on my HP computer, made three recovery disks and reinstalled Windows 7. Once that was done, I had to download the driver for my video card and restart the computer in save mode. Then I could install the driver for the video card. Of course, restoring the HP computer to factory new meant that I had all the original bloat ware that comes with an HP computer. So the next hour was removing the bloat ware and re-installing my programs.

In short, Windows 8 is like Windows Vista which was a disaster. I think Microsoft has a team of engineers who work to see how bad they can make every other upgrade of Windows. That way, whoever buys the bad version, will be ready to upgrade right away to the next version. In short, I would not recommend Windows 8 to any serious PC user in a business environment. It is a disaster. .

How to restart, log off, sleep and shut down Windows 8

Windows 8 to be the next Vista?

Six Ways Microsoft is killing the traditional desktop in Windows 8

Hands on, Windows 8 review

Windows 8 Tablets Expected for 2012 Holiday Season(pcworld.com)
Microsoft offering $15 upgrade to Windows 8 Pro(slashgear.com)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

nevada county fair

Nevada County Fair Seeking Volunteers

May 10, 2012 jd

Seeking Volunteers for the 2012 Nevada County Fair

Volunteer Fair to be held on Tuesday, May 15, at the Fairgrounds

The Nevada County Fairgrounds is currently looking for individuals interested in volunteering at the 2012 Nevada County Fair, and will host a Volunteer Fair on Tuesday, May 15, from 2 – 6 pm at Ponderosa Hall at the Fairgrounds.

The Fairgrounds is seeking volunteers to help in the exhibit departments, to serve as greeters, to assist in parking, and to work with the Red Shirts overseeing customer service and public safety at the Fair. Volunteers will be asked to work four-hour shifts, and will receive free parking and free admission to the Fair on the day of volunteering, as well as a Fair t-shirt.

If you are interested in volunteering at this year’s Fair, fill out a volunteer application and bring it to the Volunteer Fair on May 15. Applications are available on the Fair’s website at www.NevadaCountyFair.com, at the Fair Office, and on the day of the Volunteer Fair.

Nevada County Fair’s volunteers play an important role in helping to make the annual Fair a success. It’s also an opportunity to donate time to the community, learn something new, and have some fun!

This year’s Nevada County Fair is August 8 – 12. For information, call (530) 273-6217, visit www.NevadaCountyFair.com, or e-mail the Fair at info@nevadacountyfair.com.

# # #

Nevada County Fairgrounds Foundation To Host Crab Cioppino Feed(nevadacounty.com)
Nevada County Fairgrounds Seeking Nominations for Fair Family Of The Year(nevadacounty.com)
Nevada County Fair Accepting Applications for Local Enterainers(nevadacounty.com)
The Town of Washington (originally called Indiana Camp) Nevada County, CA(nevadacounty.com)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Camping, Fishing, History, History of Nevada County, Local Writers & Contributors, Nevada County Information

The Town of Washington (originally called Indiana Camp) Nevada County, CA

May 9, 2012 jd

Photo courtesy of Washington Hotel www.washingtonhotel.net

By Judy J. Pinegar

This little town in Nevada County is located on the banks of the South Fork of the Yuba River. It is located off Highway 20 between Nevada City and Interstate 80. Washington boasts a population on about 200, but that fluctuates seasonally and the town has a lot of tourist traffic in the summer.

Washington was founded in 1849, as were most of the cities in Nevada County; it was all about the Gold Rush!! These particular miners were from Indiana, so the settlement was first named Indiana Camp, but renamed to Washington in 1850. The area produced a large amount of placer gold, after that hard rock and hydraulic mines were established and were also very productive. Many people of Chinese descent worked in the area at these times.

The hotel in the town of Washington started with Hessel B. Buisman who was born in Holland in 1827, he landed in San Francisco in 1850. He originally kept a hotel in the town of Jefferson located near Washington from 1852 to 1857. He then came to Washington building a two story hotel which could accommodate up to 30 guests.

After the Buisman owners passed away, their daughter and her husband Eldridge Worthley kept the hotel for years. The hotel was called “The Worthley” or “Washington Hotel” and sat on the same site as the current hotel today. The hotel stable was across the street.

At 11 PM, August 16th, 1867 The Big Fire broke out in a nearby cabin. It jumped from house to house and destroyed almost every business downtown Washington including the Hotel. The hotel was rebuilt.

On April 21st, 1896 another fire started in the kitchen of the Washington Hotel. This fire destroyed the hotel and several buildings nearby. This time, Worthley had taken out fire insurance previous to the fire. The hotel was rebuilt as fast as the weather would allow. The picture shows the new and improved Washington Hotel after being rebuilt in 1896.

The Washington Mining District was always served by operators of small stage lines. This photo shows the company stage of Prescott and Grissel. A daily trip used to leave The National Hotel in Nevada City at 7 AM and arrive in Washington around noon. This was used to rest between trips or take shelter from the weather. Now the drive only takes 25 minutes in your car.

Picture from the Red Ledge Mine in Washington. The gold/quartz veins occur in the sedimentary rocks close to the contact with serpentine. Mariposite is often in association with the serpentine, and in close proximity to the gold. Photo courtesy of http://www.mindat.org/loc-3515.html

The town of Washington currently consists of the Washington Hotel/bar, a restaurant, a grocery store, a one room schoolhouse that has educated students continuously for over 100 years, and two trailer park campgrounds

There are two trailer parks, Gene’s Pine Aire Campground and the River Rest Resort have been in business since the 1960’s with various owners. Campsites are often to capacity, so reservations are advised.

Picture courtesy of River Rest Resort (see above)

View Larger Map

Nevada County History, California(nevadacounty.com)
Wineries of Nevada County – Sierra Vintners(nevadacounty.com)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Environment

California Wildfire Awareness Week

May 7, 2012 jd

httpv://youtu.be/7d-pm5FLa-k

With fire season coming up, California declared May 6-12, 2012 “Wildfire Awareness Week.” During the week, CAL FIRE urges homeowners to take the necessary steps to prepare their family and their homes from potential wildfires. Wildfire Awareness Week is designed to not only remind Californians of the dangers that wildfires pose, but also to educate them on how to prepare. This year’s theme is “Ready, Set, Go!” Being “Ready” for a wildfire starts by creating 100 feet of Defensible Space and hardening your home with fire-resistant building materials and being prepared. “Set” is getting set as the fire approaches. “Go” is leaving early to avoid being caught in the fire, smoke or road congestion.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire!(pieforensic.com)
Oklahoma City Fire Department offers safety tips for wildfire season(newsok.com)
What to do Before, During, and After a Wildfire / Colorado Wildfire / Residents Return(jansurvivalgear.wordpress.com)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Nevada County Information

Wineries of Nevada County – Sierra Vintners

May 4, 2012 jd

Old Vine cabernet from Chateau Montelena, (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sierra Vintners is located in Nevada County, California between Sacramento and Reno/Lake Tahoe with easy access • off I-80.

Sierra Vintners wineries and tasting rooms are located throughout the Sierra Foothills and within the towns of Grass Valley and Nevada City, California.
Sierra Vintners is part of the Sierra Foothills American Viticultural Area (AVA), which was established in 1987 on the western edge of the Sierra Nevada: Roughly 160 miles long, stretching from Yuba County in the north to Mariposa County in the south.
Wine grapes were first planted here during the California Gold Rush, but like in so many California regions rich in wine history, serious wine making reemerged and flourished only within the past thirty years.
Sierra Vintners is a region of contrasts with dense forests, snow-capped mountains, golden valleys, and spectacular rolling vistas.
Like much of Northern California, the area has a classic Mediterranean climate, with warm summers and rainy winters that often include snow in higher elevations.
The characteristic cold winters are in fact quite conducive, allowing vines to go dormant, to rest and conserve energy for the coming season.
In the summer, the warm days and cool nights provide ideal growing conditions—producing grapes with ripe, concentrated flavors and balanced natural acidity—resulting in wines of distinction.
Vineyards are planted at elevations as low as 1,300 feet all the way up to 2,600. The region boasts over 60 miles of terrain between vineyards and as a result, the grapes display a diverse array of varietal characteristics.
Sierra Vintners produces an unusually wide variety of vines, boasting over 45 planted varietals. •

Nevada County’s four distinct seasons, and its range of elevations and landscapes, makes it a fertile home for more • than forty varieties of wine grapes, ranging from Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon to Cabernet Franc, Barbera, Sangiovese and Tempranillo.

PO Box 1552 • GrassValley, CA 95945 • 530.205.3016 • www.sierravintners.com

Nevada County History, California(nevadacounty.com)
‘Earthday 2012’ Wines: 0 Tasted of 14(grapes2u.blogspot.com)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

History of Nevada County, Nevada County Information

Penn Valley, California

May 2, 2012 jd

By Judy J. Pinegar

The first residents of the area were the Maidu Indians, who migrated in about 1833 from the Sacramento Valley. The four main areas they lived were the sites now called Bridgeport, Lake Wildwood, Indian Springs and Money Flat. However everything changed with the discovery of gold and the white settlers moved into the area, when Penn Valley became one of the first settlements in the county.

Photo courtesy of the Penn Valley Chamber of Commerce

The name Penn Valley may come from a Madam Penn who is remembered for her determination to make money if hard word would do it. Coming to the area in 1849, she took her turn with her husband carrying dirt to wash and rocking out the gold. Later she had a 320 acre homestead at the intersection of Squirrel and Grub Creeks, which grew to 700 acres (most of Penn Valley) after being purchased in October 1852.

Early settlement of the area was probably started due to its location on a freight wagon route from Sacramento to mining regions east. Later men gave up their picks for plows and the valley produced fresh meat, fruits and vegetables to miners as far away as Nevada (state). In the late 1800’s the valley was home to a thriving dairy industry. In Western Gateway park is the rebuilt Butter Maker’s Cottage to commemorate the importance of the dairy industry in the area.

Photo Courtesy of Penn valley Chamber of Commerce

Today the valley is still a peaceful place, but continues to gain business opportunities and residential growth. Horses, llamas, deer and wild turkeys all coexist in the area with about 12,000 residents. The Western Gateway Park, Historic Bridgeport and Lake Englebright are all a short drive away.

Photo Courtesy of Penn valley Chamber of Commerce

Lake Wildwood is gated community in the area, off Highway 20 on Pleasant Valley Road, which now has about 5,000 full time residents. Over half of the residents are retirees, but more and more families are moving in and the average age continues to go down.

Judy J. Pinegar is a writer
Her articles have appeared in many publications

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Real Estate

Bidding Wars Are Back

May 1, 2012 jd

Picture courtesy of Arlington Real Estate Scoop

Home buyers are unexpectedly finding more competition this spring in landing their dream home. Bidding wars are increasingly being reported in markets across the country, from California to Florida, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“It’s a little surprising because we thought bidding wars were done with,” Andy Aley, a home shopper in Seattle, told The Wall Street Journal. Aley says he was outbid on a home earlier this year, even though he offered to pay $23,000 above the listing price and also waive inspections and other closing conditions.

Home buyers are frustrated and caught off-guard about the bidding wars re-emerging, real estate professionals report.

“We’re writing a record number of offers, but we’re not seeing a record number of closings and that’s because it’s so competitive,” Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin Corp., told The Wall Street Journal.

Why are things getting so competitive? Many housing markets are seeing a drastic decrease in the number of homes listed for-sale, leaving home buyers with fewer options and more bidding on the same house. Housing analysts say the shortage in supply is from sellers unwilling to take much less for their home than what they originally paid for it and pulling their homes off the market. Also, a surge in investors has made the market more competitive, as investors snatch up homes in bulk in all-cash deals.

“The bidding wars caused by tight inventory provide the latest evidence that housing demand is starting to pick up after a six-year-long slump,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

Indeed, the National Association of REALOTRS® reported late last week that pending home sales in March reached their highest level in nearly two years and are up 12.8 percent from a year ago.

Source: “Stunned Home Buyers Find the Bidding Wars Are Back,” The Wall Street Journal (April 27, 2012)

WSJ: Stunned Home Buyers Find the Bidding Wars Are Back (woodonfire.wordpress.com)
Bidding Wars Reflect Housing Market’s Confused State (blogs.wsj.com)
Bidding Wars for Housing is Back (johnodellrealty.com)
Bidding War Catches Buyers Off Guard (maverickrealestate.wordpress.com)
Yet Another Housing Bear Turns Bull (szerlip.wordpress.com)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Construction

Building a Straw Bale House

April 26, 2012 jd

httpv://youtu.be/XgbORHvveTY

Straw bales are a high insulation value, low-embodied-energy, natural building material made from an agricultural waste product. For many, they are locally available and affordable. Straw is easy to work with for people new to construction as they are flexible and can be very forgiving.

Curves add beauty to a straw bale house

Straw bale homes can also be beautiful. They often have graceful, elegant curves, delightful window seats, and can have exciting sculpture and mosaics integrated into the plaster. When building your house by hand it is easy to incorporate elements of beauty.Source: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Restaurant

Cirino’s at Main Street, Grass Valley, CA

April 24, 2012 jd

By Sherri L.Reynolds

This eating establishment provides and serves Mediterranean cuisine with an atmosphere of soft lights, colorful decor and the painted murals on the walls give you a feel for Italy. I especially like the colored flags of different countries in the main dining room. It allows one to imagine and to enjoy a meal, specially prepared from the Cirino family kitchen, to experience being somewhere else in the world.

The food here is carefully made from their time honored recipes. From “The Old World Butcher Shop” menus, which consist of Sicilian pork rostini with orange thyme sauce or wild plum sauce to Aldo’s char-grilled steak a’la gorgonzola ( locals love this) it’s a dish and recipe from Jerry’s father’s family in Napoli, Italy.

There are appetizers, soups, sandwiches and salads to generously choose from. The grilled Greek pita bread appetizer with spinach/artichoke dip is a wonderful choice to begin your festival of foods with. My salad favorite is the Tunisian Chicken salad, layered with grilled teriyaki chicken breast, fresh baby green lettuce, buckwheat, noodles, snow peas, tomatoes, cashews and tossed with a spicy North African dressing. The taste is amazing !

They also serve pastas, grains and delicious risotto dishes. I generally lean towards the risotto with fresh rosemary, red flame grapes and brie cheese. It’s a melt in your mouth meal to savor and to enjoy each and every bite. The complimentary bread basket is an aroma of fresh baked bread right out of the oven. Nice and warm.

Other dishes to explore are Tucher’s stuffed polenta, filled with fresh basil, marinated artichoke hearts, saute’ed red peppers, mozzarella, Italian Parmesans cheese set in a bed of red marinara sauce, also the rigatoni prosciutto balsamella, a soft creamy and comfort food at its best.

There is a wide range of wines and beer to pair with all the dishes and Jerry gives suggestions on his menu list to choose from. They also have a bar where you can sit and enjoy some great food and spirits. Plus, live satellite TV for the avid sport fan to watch.

Jerry and Tucker also have a kid’s menu to accommodate the younger appetite, so they too, can experience the value of fine dining.

Most importantly, are the friendly waiters and waitresses who provide impeccable service to help suggest and provide a pleasurable eating adventure. From my experience, after having a wonderful meal here, I always leave with a smile on my face.

Cirino’s At Main Street located at 213 East Main St. Grass Valley, Ca. 530-477-6000

Open daily for lunch and dinner 7 days a week with your hosts Jerry and Tucker Cirino.

“Enjoy life and the taste for it”

Bon appétit,
Sherri L.Reynolds
sreynoldsjb@yahoo.com
freelance/poet/creative writer

For all your real estate needs

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker

O’Dell Realty
(530-263-1091
Email Email John>/a>

DRE# 00669941

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Judy J. Pinegar is a writer Her articles have appeared in many magazines and publications

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Judy J. Pinegar is a writer
Her articles have appeared in many magazines and publications