On the brighter side:

A few people have prodded me to get back to blogging, and stay away from the "dark side."  I know, reporting deaths only makes me technically an OBIT, and I need to lighten up.

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Last night I attended the Womens Club (+partners) dinner at Trolley Junction.  Great party of about 22, and had lots of fun catching up and chowing down.  Lots of thanks to Charlotte Starn who organizes so much for CSWC.  

The childrens Christmas Party was held today.  Even Santa attended.  This is just another great event that the Womens Club makes happen faithfully each year.  It is such a fun community event, with crafts, games, Santa and great snacks. Kids take home a gift bag.  It's a free event, and no one turned away, so I hope if you have a little one you brought them.

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We got our first snow of the season today, starting at about 4pm.  Just a beautiful postcard snow.  I think it will be a short but sweet storm, and with any luck will snow during Victorian Christmas downtown tomorrow.  It begins a 1:30 - 6pm, and should be just beautiful, with a chance to pick up one of those unique items from a local vendor, a real win-win.  I'll be there and hope to see you.

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I can't talk without saying that our local shelter is FULL of great dogs.  Even if adopting a dog is not right for you now, do you think you could have a canine house guest for a few weeks.  Sammie's Friends is looking for foster homes so the dogs don't have to spend this holiday in a small concrete enclosure, but instead the warmth and love a real home.  Coulild that be you?  They'll try to match you with a dog that works in your situation.  Call 471-5041 and talk to Ruth, Cheryl or Debbie.  Thanks.

I just brought home a little Shih Tzu, 7 years old, recovering from pneumonia.  Very polite, housebroken, and totally loveable.  He's supposed to lay low for 10 days, so there is not much to do but give him 1 pill, 2 meals, a couple of 3 minute walks and a hug or two.  Easy breezy.

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My buddy Dixie Redfearn called today and cheered the house with her smiling voice.  She misses us, and we miss her.  I have "lightened up" this post, and am dedicating to Dixie.  

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If your new year resolution is to start doing more for your community or get more involved or exercise, don't forget our walking group, book club, game day and various events.  The Cascade Shores women'a club is always welcoming new members and you can't find a nicer group of women.

There is a calendar of their events on cascadeshores.org.
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Last night I thought I heard my neighbors dogs barking (a beagle and a terrier) but they didn't stop, and at 3am, I finally called their house as it sounded like the dogs were desperate.  Turns out it was not his dogs (though he was awake and up cause his dogs were agitated and barking inside the house). It was actually a pack of coyotes trying to coax dogs out.  So be careful letting your dog out.  He may be drawn to the howling coyotes and they are not inviting him to a BBQ!

RIP Patricia Gagne

I got some really bad news the other day.  Do you remember Pat, the woman to tended the Scotts Flat Parking Lot/Boat Launch a few years ago?
Pat (Patricia) arrived in Nevada County about 6 years ago.  She had finished raising her kids back in Philadelphia, and set about to find a place where she "fit" in the new phase of her life (post raising kids).  Somehow she landed in Nevada County, and lucky us!  I met Pat down at the boat ramp when she took the summer job of managing/wrangling the boaters, would be campers and kids sneaking into the beach without paying, and the legit beachcombers.  Pat was honest, kind, authorative without being bossy, and just one of the most genuine people I ever met.  I liked her on sight.  She parked her "hippie VW bus" in the parking lot, and created a little garden of Eden around it.  She and her little dog Cricket lived in that parking lot in that VW bus all summer until she had enough saved to secure housing.  Cricket was a darling little rat terrier who had the knack of curling her lips back and giving you a giant smile when you said "hey Cricket." At the end of a work day, Pat and Cricket would launch their Kayak and do their daily lake tour.  It was a wonderful summer of martini's, bbq, laughs and friendship for us all.
 After summer Pat rented a cute place on East Main St. from Caroline and Mike Inglis, with whom she had formed a friendship. Pat had a great sense of style, and volunteered at the Zion Cancer Thrift.  There she scored really cute furnishings and knick-knacks and furnished her rental with that cute thrift store chic.  We all gathered for dinners there in fall and winter.  Again, I can't tell you how much we all enjoyed her and Crickets company.
Pat worked the lake concession the following summer, but then moved on to other jobs in the county.  She worked at Weiss Brothers Nursery, and as was her style, worked hard and honestly, and endeared herself to everyone there.
Pat decided to stay in Nevada County.  She often told me she found the people here interesting, fun, and real, and it was a friendly fun place to land.  She was happy.  She found a romantic relationship with a man, and as that sometimes go, we saw less of her, as he saw more of her.  Our loss, her gain.
A little over a year ago I guess I lost track of Pat, and life goes on . . . . .
When we were seeing more of each other I met her daughter from San Francisco (her name escapes me) and Pat told us about her son Julian MC Cullough, an aspiring stand up comic.  When I would catch him on TV, I would make her a CD to watch later.  He is a very funny "G" rated comic, and the spitting image of his mother.  She was very proud of him.
Last week I saw that Julian had a weekly show with another comic, Whitney Cummings.  It's called
"Love you, mean it" on E channel.  I called Caroline Inglis to say, "hey, Pat's son has a show."  Caroline said, "I still can't believe she's gone."  WHATTTT?
It seems Pat Gagne was diagnosed with cancer in November 2011.  She succumbed to cancer February 2012. I did not know.  She was young, 57, she was beautiful, she was smart, and she was gone.  I can't find any obituary, no news of her passing.
I wanted to write this because I think some of you might have known Pat (if you were lucky) and maybe wondered what happened to her.
So, CHEERS to you Pat.  Please know you were loved in Nevada County.
Your friend forever, Denise

Pete the Greek, and the end of an era

UPDATE:  Pete's services are to be held at Hooper Weaver Mortuary on Wed. 12/5/12.  There is a viewing from 10am-1pm, with a service at 2pm.  You are invited to gather at the Cascade Shores firehouse at 4pm for refreshments and memory sharing (potluck).
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Our dear friend and neighbor, Peter Athanasopoulos, aka Pete the Greek departed this earth and Cascade Shores today at 1:15pm, or thereaboust.
Pete was one of the true Pioneers of Cascade Shores.  He purchased his lot at the corner of Cascade Loop and Sadie D wayyyy back in the late 60's.  He hand build his tidy A frame a board at a time, driving up from San Mateo every weekend.  He spent many hours dredging on the Yuba and
Feather Rivers with his buddies, mostly with Herman,  and had quite a bit of the shiny gold stuff to prove it!
Without Pete and the other retiree's that settled here in the early 70's, there would be no Lost Mine Lake, no Firehouse.  They were the ones that put those deals together.  His friends Lloyd and Dorothy Honey donated the land the firehouse sits on, and somehow they put together the building.
Pete was a bit of a McGuyver, who could make a building out of a few odd boards, rubber bands and chewing gum.  On time and on budget.  He taught me how to demo and how to build, how to use a sawsall, how to pipe a water system.  And he did it all sitting in an easy chair and giving directions.  And it worked.  Pete was that good.
Pete took care of his lovely wife Anna for 10 years when she was in a coma.  He lovingly cared for her every day till her last. I saw that first hand, as I met Pete when he needed a little help with Anna when he was preparing for his own back surgery.  His kindness and tenderness with her was a site to behold.
After Anna passed away, Pete ran into some amazing luck.  Our beautiful mail carrier, Terry Grebbens befriended Pete, and a few years later, she agreed to be Mrs. A.  That was a very lucky day for Pete, as Terry is one of the kindest, sweetest and fun friends I've ever had too!  Over the past decade they've traveled and gardened, chopped wood and shared grandchildren.  It's been a good run.
So many of the "old timers" are now gone from the Shores.  Pete, having lived to 86 has seen many of his friends pass away.  That's never fun.  With age comes wisedom, and he took it in stride.  Pete was a proud Greek man till the end, and a great scrabble player.  Pete will missed by his brothers, his sisters in law, son Pete, grandchildren Eve, Jason and Melissa, and great-grandkids Amelia and Adreon.  Our hearts go out to his wonderful wife Terry and her family.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES PETE!  Sitting at the lake and watching the sunset, we will see you in our hearts.  Memorial pending.

Nice dusting of the white stuff Fri and Sat

Hi all,
Cascade Shores is just beautiful with a wonderful dusting of our first snow overnight, (plus a little yesterday).  Hope you got your fire wood collecting done, kindling collected and starter stuff dry.
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The Halloween Party was well attended by about 30 kids.  Great activities, great snacks and darling little ones proudly dressed as their favorite super-hero or fantasy character.  Big smiles, and probably big belly aches the next day.  Thank you ladies of the Womens Club for putting on this safe Halloween activity each and every year.
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The Womens Club also wo-Manned the polling station for the big election at the Firehouse up on the hill last Tuesday.  This pays the group $450 which them immediately put into the "kitty" to help pay for future parties and causes here in the shores.  It's hard work but somebody's gotta do it.  Club President Sharon Hughes headed the team, which means her day started at 5:30 am and ended at about 10pm.  Thanks Sharon and team Cascade Shores.
Below is an interesting article from YubaNet about our voting results. 79% of registered voters voted.  Good going Nevada County!

rNevada County Election Tally Continues - Turnout Is Nearly 80%; Mail-Ins Top 16,000

Published on Nov 8, 2012 - 4:06:13 PM

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By: Nevada County Elections Office

November 8, 2012 - Nevada County election officials were busy today counting more than 18,000 unprocessed ballots to add to the county's election-day tally of 31,275.

"It takes time because more than 16,000 of these ballots are mail ballots, plus nearly 2,000 provisional and damaged ballots, all of which must be carefully scrutinized by our ballot team," said Gail Smith, Assistant Registrar of Voters for the county.

"Our goal," she said, "is to assure that everyone who voted properly has his or her ballot counted correctly."

"I am extremely proud of the excellent service of our elections staff and the more than 340 volunteers who worked diligently on this election," said Registrar of Voters Gregory Diaz.

Diaz said balloting, processing and tabulating has gone nearly perfect thus far. "We have discovered just two anomalies in the tabulating process," he said. "At one precinct in Grass Valley, and another in Truckee, poll workers punched an incorrect button on a voting machine, resulting in a total of 69 provisional ballots mingling with regular ballots.

"We carefully processed the qualifications of the provisional voters and found that only three of the 20 in Grass Valley and 14 of the 49 in Truckee were not qualified to vote," Diaz said. "Because this small number of unqualified provisional votes — 17 in all — cannot possibly influence the outcome of any of the contests in which these votes were cast, I have determined that we will count all of these provisional ballots along with the regular ballots."

"The important principle here is that no one — not one single person — was denied the constitutional right to vote."

Many of the mail-in and provisional ballots came to the election headquarters in a late surge, explained Smith. "While we were able to process many of these ballots that came in early, it wasn't possible to verify the validity of all of them during the surge. But we are working hard to accomplish that task."

When all of the ballots are verified and tabulated, the total vote in Nevada County will be more than 49,000, or approximately 79 per cent of all registered voters. By way of comparison, in the 2008 election, 88 per cent of registered Nevada County voters cast ballots.

On Tuesday, Election Day, workers in the election office tabulated a total of 31,275 votes by 1 a.m. that night. Early next morning, the staff began the monumental task of going through numerous boxes of mail-in, damaged and provisional ballots that had accumulated, many on Election Day. Each voter's registration status must be confirmed by verifying the signature on the mail-in envelope and also assuring that the person didn't vote somewhere else as well. On provisional ballots, the staff must verify a set of requirements for each voter, including registration status and signature verification.

Processing each of the estimated 18,000 ballots will take several days, but Smith said the Diaz team will work as rapidly as possible while being extremely careful to process each ballot correctly.

"By law," Smith said, "we have until Dec. 4 to complete our tally and submit our final results to the Secretary of State. A week later, on Dec. 14, the Secretary of State must have certified the results of the election."

Like what you just read? Help us bring you more news: es for a job well done.  All went smoothly and no voter was turned away.
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Little white dog missing in Cascade Shores

Leslie King lives on Summit Ridge.  In the halloween rain, new new little Maltipoo ran away. He is about 9 lbs, little white dog.  IF you find him please call me at 265-8680.  Leslie is out of town.  He has an OLD microchip, from the person in Bakersfield who abandoned him, so please don't call them~If you even see him, please call me, or try to catch the little guy.

Recent Burglaries on Quaker Hill

I just had a neighbor report to me that there has been some burglary activity on Banner Quaker Hill above the shores.  The assn. there has been meeting with local sheriff in an attempt to identify and catch the suspect.  The info. being shared is that the person seems to switch between a black Honda and a white truck, apparently switching lisc. plates.  The MO is to approach the home and knock on the door, and if answered, the ask for directions to Idaho Maryland.  If no one is home, they enter the home through the back side (away from the street).  They are mostly taking jewelry and gold items, and sometimes expensive pictures/frames.
If you see any activity as described, please try to get a good description of the vehicle and the person.  So far this has been described as a male, age 25-45 yrs.
There is nothing more violating than having someone enter your home and take things you have worked long and hard for.  Let's come together and see if we can end this threat to our security and sense of peace.  Sorry to have to report this.  We like to feel like our "cocoon" here in the shores is safe.  It may be that this person is living here in the shores.  It seems the vehicles may be the key to catching this person. Lock your doors!  Don't be an easy "hit."
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TOnight is the Scooters Pals silent auction and spaghetti feed (flyer on my last post).  This is a great opportunity to have fun, purchase some services and gifts (Christmas is only months away!) and support this wonderful dog rescue organization.  Scooters is run 100% by volunteers, so every dime goes to the dogs~

SRA (State Responsibility Area) tax bill $115.00

Hi fellow residents of a "high fire risk" area, which of course is true.  By now you should have received your much disputed and unfair tax bill.  You are probably grumbling, and begrudgingly paying the bill.  If you don't, unfortunately a lien can be placed against your property, and heavy late interest and fines levied.
If you did not read the papers today, you might be delighted to know that the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. has filed a class action lawsuit (in conjunction with others) regarding what appears to be an illegal and "double taxation" issue.
If you agree that you are being unfairly targeted,  do yourself a favor and go to firetaxprotest.org. and follow the steps to protest this tax.  This includes paying the bill in a timely manner, and marking your check "paid under protest" and completing the protest form they have provided.  Be sure to follow all the steps as outlined. This tax will again be charged  in 3/13, so it is important that this matter be addressed as soon as possible.  If the class action suit is successful, you will only receive a refund if you have followed the steps on  firetaxprotest.org.
Many in the know feel that this is just an attempt of the state to grab a few bucks wherever they can.  It appears the money would go to a "general fund" and not into any fire protection fund. I hope you will educate yourself on this matter and if you agree, take time to file the protest. Good luck.www.firetaxprotest.org
also www.hjta.org (howardjarvistaxassn)
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I've got tickets for Spaghetti Feed at Scooters Auction if you want . . . . . great place to purchase services and fun stuff, and 100percent goes to the pups . . . . .