News

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The latest report on local real estate sales shows that Lake County's prices have remained steady into the late spring.

The Lake County Association of Realtors reported that the median sales price for single family residential sales gained a modest 4 percent when comparing May 2016 sales to April 2016.

The median sales price in May was $236,500 and in April it was $227,500, the report said.

The number of sales rose from 63 in April to 66 in May, accounting for a 4.76-percent increase on a month-to-month basis, based on the report.

On a year-to-year comparison, the report said the number of sales dropped 8.3 percent, with the number of sales in May 2015 totaling 72.

Prices, however, increased 14.25 percent. The May median sales price for 2015 was $207,000, compared to the $236,500 median price reported last month.

The median days on market for May sales was 77, which was up from the April median days on market of 60. The association reported that the days on market is measured from the time a listing agreement is signed by all parties until all contingencies are released during the escrow process.

“The area that has seen the most sales year to date is Hidden Valley Lake with 63 sales and a median sales price of $255,000,” said 2016 LCAOR President Erin Woodward. “The Clear Lake Riviera had 41 sales with a median sales price of $235,000. The Lakeport area reported 52 sales with a median price of $264,000 and the Clearlake area had 39 sales with a median price of $110,000.”

Cash financing was used in 26 percent of the sales while conventional and FHA loans accounted for over 54 percent of the transactions, the report said.

On a statewide basis the California Association of Realtors reported that homes sales edged up slightly and that the market was being driven by tight housing inventories and reduced affordability.

May’s median sales price was $518,760, up 1.8 percent from April’s median of $509,590. The year-to-year increase was 6.3 percent when compared to the May 2015 median of $487,960.

LAKE COUNTY NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

May 2016
Median price: $236,500
Median days to sell: 77
Units Sold: 66

April 2016
Median price: $227,500
Median days to sell: 60
Units Sold:63

April 2015
Median price: $207,000
Median days to sell: 67
Units Sold: 72

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Gaddy Shack Ranch is hosting a Clear Lake Junior Horsemen Extravaganza Sunday, June 26, beginning at 9 a.m.

The event is to promote and encourage young Lake County equestrians, ages 7 to 17, to consider membership in this fun and exciting group.

The Clear Lake Junior Horsemen group is a dedicated to keeping Lake County youth involved in the traditional skills of horsemanship, horse mastership and sportsmanship.

Through the hard work of the members and advisors, many of the traditions established by the club in the 1940s are alive and well today. One of these time honored favorites is the drill team.

The extravaganza will include performances by the CLJH Drill Team and the adult Random Chaos Drill Team, a gymkhana, barrels and poles, jackpot barrels and poles, lead line barrels, ribbons for prizes and highpoint, and raffle tickets for each class entered.

Gaddy Shack Ranch is located at 3050 Gaddy Lane, Kelseyville.

For more information, contact Debbie James at 707-338-1014.

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County Wine Studio will host a wine release party with Andy Pestoni of Jelly Jar Wines on Sunday, June 26, from 2 to 5 p.m.
 
The $10/per person (complimentary for Wine Studio club members) wine sampler and appetizers will showcase Jelly Jar Hearsay White Blend (Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat), Rosé and Old Vine Zinfandel.

Andy Pestoni is a fourth generation winemaker whose great-grandfather, Albino Pestoni, came from Italy with his family and settled in St. Helena in the late 1890s.

Making wine was part of their heritage. Backyard vineyards were planted and family members were enlisted to harvest and crush grapes. They crafted food-friendly wines to enjoy around the family table – most often out of jelly jars.

Pestoni worked harvests at Beaulieu Vineyard while attending college and then went on to work in the cellar at Ferrari-Carrano in Sonoma County for several years.

When his father and uncle bought a winery in the town of Rutherford they asked Pestoni to join them to launch their new family winery. Pestoni has been the winemaker at Rutherford Grove Winery & Vineyards since 1996.

In 2005, Pestoni and his wife Shannon founded Jelly Jar Wines, a family endeavor marking a return to early California winemaking and their family heritage, and together they handle every aspect of production from start to finish.

Jelly Jar Wines are made with Lake County wine grapes from single vineyard sites Pestoni has personally chosen for their unique character, which he crafts into food-friendly wines to be enjoyed with family and friends.

The Lake County Wine Studio is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake, telephone 707-275-8030.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The nonprofit Konocti Rod and Gun Club has announced its latest scholarship winners.

The group has awarded scholarships to graduating high school seniors since 2005.

The program began with two $250 awards, and awarded amounts increased as the club’s membership grew.

This year's scholarship winners are Rachel N. Kelley from Clear Lake High School, $1,000; Madelyn M. Copas from Konocti Education Center, $1,000; and Wyatt R. Jones from Middletown High School, who received the $250 Reggie Dencan Memorial Scholarship.

This past autumn, pruning a big lilac bush, I found a snakeskin that some bird had woven into its nest.

Here's a poem about another find, from Stephen Behrendt, who lives and teaches in Nebraska. His most recent book is Refractions, from Shechem Press.

Snakeskin

Pruning back the old spirea bushes
that sprawled for years in summer's heat,
I bared the snake skin, a yard and a half long:
its naked empty length rippled in the streaming wind
lifting its ghostly coils from the dead shoots
that scraped the slough from the slithering body
that shed it in that narrow, shaded space.

I paused—who wouldn't?—shears poised,
slipped off gray canvas gloves, extracted
the sere, striated casing from the brown stalks
that had held it, silent, hidden.

I coiled the paper-thin curling sheath with care,
delicately, eased it into a simple squatty box
for keeping, for care, for my daughters
to take to school, to show, to explain
how some sinuous body we've never glimpsed,
that haunts about our shrubs, our porch,
left for us this translucent, scale-scored wrapper,
this silent hint of all that moves unseen.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright ©2014 by Stephen C. Behrendt, “Snakeskin,” (Refractions, Shechem Press, 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of Stephen C. Behrendt and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Shared Habitat Alliance for Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) program is now taking applications for 37 elk hunting opportunities.

The hunts will take place Aug. 15 through Dec. 13 on 21 properties in Colusa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Siskiyou counties. Applications will be on sale from Friday, June 17 through Monday, July 25.
 
Fifteen of the 21 properties are new additions to the SHARE Program, which partners with private landowners to provide additional hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities for the public.

Participating landowners receive liability protection and compensation for providing public access to or through their land for wildlife-dependent recreational activities.

More information about the SHARE program, including specifics for the upcoming  elk hunts, can be found at www.wildlife.ca.gov/hunting/share .
 
All elk tags will be distributed through a random draw process. These hunts are in addition to those issued through the big game drawing and no preference points will be considered or used.

Applications can be purchased by anyone with a valid California hunting license from any CDFW license office or online at www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/internetsales .
 
An $11.37 nonrefundable application fee will be charged for each hunt application. Successful applicants will be notified on July 29.
 
Hunters are reminded it is legal to take only one elk in California per year.