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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Local mindfulness teacher, consultant and author JoAnn Saccato will present “Mindfulness for Stress Reduction,” a free 90-minute workshop, on Saturday, April 15.
The workshop will take place beginning at 2 p.m. at Lake County Jazzercise, located at 15642 Armstrong St. in Middletown.
The event is free and open to the public.
The workshop includes a brief history of mindfulness, recent scientific findings with emphasis on stress reduction, and simple guided mindfulness exercises including breath awareness, gentle movement and loving kindness.
The workshop is based on Ms. Saccato's courses and forthcoming book, “Mindful and Intentional Living: A Path to Peace, Clarity and Freedom.”
Mindfulness is a popular practice that invites one to pay kind, nonjudgmental attention to their experience.
The scientifically supported approach helps reduce stress and stress-related illnesses, increase focus and attention, decrease incidences of and relapses with depression, reduce anxiety, and aid in sleep and digestive disorders.
Beth Rudiger of Lake County Jazzercise is hosting the event. "I took this workshop with JoAnn last year and realized that being mindful is just being present and acknowledging what my body is telling me. We actually encourage our clients to practice mindfulness at every Jazzercise class when we tell them to engage their muscles and pay attention to how hard they’re working."
Lake County Jazzercise is dedicated to helping women and men of all fitness levels reduce stress, feel good, and maintain strength and balance. One 60-minute dance exercise class includes all three exercise types needed for a complete workout: cardio, strength and stretching. They offer 23 classes a week, have childcare services, and offer personal training sessions.
In honor of National Fitness Month, Lake County Jazzercise will be offering free classes the whole month of May.
"After taking this workshop, I knew I wanted to share this with my Jazzercise family. I know it can help improve life on so many levels: diet, sleep, health, relationships, and energy," Rudiger said. "And, I can tell JoAnn only wants to help people be more happy and healthy through mindfulness, just as I do with Jazzercise."
For more information on Lake County Jazzercise, visit www.lcjazz.com or call Rudiger at 707-502-3389.
For more information on the workshop, Saccato or compassion-based mindfulness, visit www.Compassion-basedMindfulness.com or call 707-350-1719.
Question: A buddy of mine got two lobsters in San Diego Bay right before the season closed.
While he was cleaning them, he noticed green algae on their shells and then found the meat to be white, looking like it was already cooked. Both lobsters were still alive when detailing them.
Have you heard any other stories like this? Would they have still been okay to cook and eat? (Ray C., San Diego)
Answer: When you find a lobster with algae on its shell (exoskeleton) it usually means it hasn’t molted in quite a while. This should be nothing to worry about, though.
An animal getting ready to molt pulls salts out of its existing shell and creates a soft exoskeleton underneath that will expand with water and salts once the animal molts.
Our best guess is that the old exoskeleton may have been overgrown and what your friend encountered (white, cooked-looking meat) could have been the new exoskeleton just under the old.
As long as the animal was acting normally and was still alive before it was cooked, there was likely no problem with the meat.
One test seafood businesses use when cooking whole lobsters is whether they curl. The shell should turn to a darker red color and the tail tends to curl (not tightly, but it’s difficult to lay the animal flat). If there’s no curl, discard the animal.
Trapping opossums?
Question: My city neighbor is now renting a home and has taken it upon himself to trap local opossums and release them elsewhere. He says he is taking them to a county road (Dry Creek) but there is no way to verify this.
We have lived in our home for 15 years and so we, along with our neighbors, are concerned. We have lived with the possums and raccoons for a lot of years without issues. This tenant intends to exterminate them. Is there anything we can do? (Tyler)
Answer: “All furbearing and nongame mammals that are legal to trap must be immediately euthanized or released” (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 465.5(g)(1)). So it is not legal to transport opossums elsewhere for release.
Possums should not be “relocated” from where they were trapped for many reasons, the most important being to prevent the spread of disease, and immediately releasing the opossums would not take care of the “pest” problem that your neighbor probably wants to solve.
There are other options that you could inform your neighbor about though. “Keep Me Wild” is a campaign that strives to limit conflicts between wild animals and humans. More information about how your neighbor can avoid problems with opossums may be found at the Keep Me Wild Web site.
Python skins to make leather goods?
Question: I’m a fashion designer located in New Jersey and I am looking to move my business to California.
I’ve heard and read things about Python skin being illegal in California. I was looking for more information on this and whether this is 100 percent true?
I currently make leather goods, but with exotic skins. (Michael S.)
Answer: Pythons are on the list of animals, or parts or products thereof, that are illegal to import into this state for commercial purposes, to possess with intent to sell, or to sell within the state (see California Penal Code, section 653o).
Prohibited species include: polar bears, leopards, ocelots, tigers, cheetahs, jaguars, sable antelope, wolves (Canis lupus), zebras, whales, cobras, pythons, sea turtles, colobus monkeys, kangaroos, vicunas, sea otters, free-roaming feral horses, dolphins or porpoises (Delphinidae), Spanish lynxes or elephants.
Fishing with kids and friends
Question: I am taking my daughter and a couple of friends and their dads on our boat this weekend. The girls are all under 16. I have a license but do all of the dads need them, too? Or, can I be the only adult angler? (Eric N.)
Answer: As long as the non-licensed adults on the boat do not assist in any way with fishing, they do not need to have a sport fishing license to ride along with you on your fishing trip.
“Every person 16 years of age or older who takes any fish, reptile or amphibian for any purpose other than profit shall first obtain a valid license for that purpose and shall have that license on his or her person or in his or her immediate possession or where otherwise specifically required by law or regulation to be kept when engaged in carrying out any activity authorized by the license” (Fish and Game Code, section 7145).
Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Russ passed away on April 1, 2017, at the age of 77.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Susan McKee; seven children; 17 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary in Lakeport on Friday, April 21, at 1 p.m.
For further information, please contact Chapel of the Lakes Mortuary at 707-263-0357 or 707-994-5611, or visit www.chapelofthelakes.com .
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – For the Upper Lake Community United Methodist Church, 604 Clover Valley Road in the town of Upper Lake, the week preceding Easter is known as Holy week.
It begins on Palm Sunday, April 9, and is traditionally a week of somber reflection on the events that lead up to Jesus’ death.
On Palm Sunday at 11 a.m. they celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where the people laid palm branches on the road to welcome Him as He rode a donkey into the city. Palm branches will be prevalent in the sanctuary on this day.
On April 13 at 6 p.m. they celebrate the next event of Holy week, Maundy Thursday (also called Holy Thursday) when we commemorate the Last Supper – a Passover meal that Jesus shared with his disciples the night before his death.
At the meal, Jesus broke the bread and offered his followers wine, saying, “This is my body, given for you. During the Last Super Jesus predicted the events that would follow, including his betrayal, the denial of Peter, and his death and resurrection. Communion will be served at this service which will be held in the church fellowship hall.”
Friday April 14, Good Friday, is a day of mourning for the church. During this brief but moving evening service (7 p.m.) they meditate on Jesus’ suffering and death.
This service is based on the seven last words of Jesus on the cross which begins with “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” and ends with “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
On Easter Sunday, April 16, they will celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. The SONrise service is scheduled to start at 6 a.m. Breakfast will be served after the service. They return again at 11 a.m. for the regular Easter Day service and the flowering of the cross.
Learn to love the Bible and Jesus through Pastor Bob’s inspirational sermons whose thoughts, actions and messages to the congregation always come from the heart.
All are welcome to attend any of the Holy week services or the regular Sunday worship service at 11 a.m.
The United Methodist Church motto is “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors,” and “Passion for Christ, Compassion for all.”
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County was lashed by high winds and heavy rains on Thursday evening and into early Friday morning, with forecasters expecting rain to continue well into next week.
The National Weather Service had issued a high wind warning for the county from 11 p.m. Thursday to 8 a.m. Friday.
That warning means that a “hazardous wind event” was expected or already occurring.
In Lake County, gusts of about 30 miles per hour were anticipated in the forecast.
The winds were the result of a strong spring storm moving over the region through Friday.
That storm also brought heavy rains to the county on Thursday.
For the 24-hour period ending at 1:30 a.m. Friday, Lake County had the following rainfall totals, in inches:
– Boggs Mountain: 2.56;
– Hidden Valley Lake: 1.38;
– Indian Valley Reservoir: 0.78;
– Kelseyville: 1.5;
– Lakeport: 1.23;
– Lower Lake: 1.44;
– Middletown: 1.89;
– Upper Lake: 1.70;
– Whispering Pines: 1.84.
Lake County is forecast to get more rain on Friday totaling up to about half an in inch, with another tenth of an inch expected on Saturday, the National Weather Service reported.
More rain is expected through much of next week, with breaks on Monday and Tuesday before the rain is anticipated to resume, forecasters said.
Cooler temperatures are expected to over the next several days as well, with nighttime temperatures expected to drop into the high 30s on Friday and low 30s on Saturday, and the low 50s in the daytime.
Temperatures are forecast to warm up early next week, with daytime temperatures back around the low 60s and nighttime temperatures hovering around the low 40s, forecasters said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
A statewide transportation package that proponents say will put $52 billion over the coming decade toward repairing California’s roads and improving public transit passed the State Legislature late Thursday night.
SB 1 will raise more than $5 billion annually through a number of avenues, including a $0.12-per-gallon increase to gas tax, phased in over three years; a 20-cent increase to the diesel excise tax; a $38 increase to the vehicle registration fee; a $100 vehicle registration fee on zero emission vehicles; $300 million from existing cap and trade funds; and returning $500 million in vehicle weight fees phased in over five years.
The bill has faced opposition from the Legislature’s Republicans, who couldn’t muster enough votes to prevent its passage.
Senate Republican Leader Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) called it “the largest gas tax hike in California’s history.”
“It is deeply disappointing that legislative Democrats chose to punish Californians with tax increases after neglecting our roads for years,” Fuller said. “This out of touch plan will particularly hurt Californians struggling to make ends meet and give us all less than we deserve.”
Fuller had signed on as a co-author to Assembly Bill 496, introduced by Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Kern County), vice chair of the Transportation Committee, which she said was a better solution.
State Sen. Mike McGuire, a co-author of the bill whose district includes Lake County, lauded the bill’s passage.
“Our communities are home to some of the worst roads in the state, we can’t keep kicking the can down the crumbling road. Tonight’s vote to approve this critical transportation funding package was a long overdue step,” said McGuire. “Advancing a tax increase is never easy, especially for California residents who have to foot the bill, but we have a transportation funding crisis. Our roads, highways and bridges are literally falling apart and tens of millions of California commuters, businesses and travelers have literally been paying the price for the lack of action.”
McGuire said the transportation funding package will provide cities and counties with significant annual revenue streams to make local infrastructure improvements like rebuilding and paving local roads and streets and bridge repair.
He said strict accountability is included to ensure funds are only spent on transportation – essentially placing funds in a lock box – and by passing a constitutional amendment to prohibit spending the funds on anything but transportation.
Every billion dollars spent on transportation infrastructure, creates 14,000 full-time jobs, McGuire said.
McGuire said Lake County – the county government as well as the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport – is expected to receive approximately $3,763,000 annually from the bill, or $37.6 million over the next decade.
Other counties in McGuire’s district will receive the following amounts:
– Del Norte: $1,475,000 annually;
– Humboldt: $7,732,000 annually;
– Marin: $9,732,000 annually;
– Mendocino: $5,568,000 annually;
– Sonoma: $20,739,000 annually;
– Trinity: $2,300,000 annually.
SB 1 now moves to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown, where it’s expected to be signed. Brown came out in recent weeks as a strong proponent of the package.