One of TAMBA’s last trail days of the season is Sept. 30.

It will be a preview of the Monument Trail the U.S. Forest Service has been working on this summer above Cold Creek and High Meadow.

Meet at the locked gate on High Meadow dirt road at 9am. Cyclists will ride to High Meadow where the new trail starts and down Cold Creek at the end of the day.

All food will be provided including doughnuts and coffee to start the day, lunch and post ride barbecue. Sprouts Cafe is donating gift cards to the first 10 people to RSVP and show up. Everyone must RSVP to ensure there is enough food — rails@mountainbiketahoe.org.

There will be a free outdoor concert Sept. 30 as a means to raise funds for Adam Rose.

On Aug. 21, Rose was riding his bicycle and was struck by an alleged drunken driver at 12th Street and Emerald Bay Road. His arms and legs were broken and he is currently confined to a wheelchair. He faces more than six months of rehabilitation.

Rose will be present at the 1-5pm event.

Bob Hart is the musical director for the event. Acts will include Daughters in Arm, Full Watt Hi-Fi, Bond Collins, Michael Kessler, Ashleigh Minshall and the AR38 Band.

The event is at the Hempen’ Inn — 1184 Emerald Bay Road, South Lake Tahoe.

Bring picnic blankets, lawn chairs and snacks. Beverages will be available.

• Californians with questions about the state’s fire prevention fee billings may contact CalFire at 888.310.6447.

• Nicole Zaborsky has launched a certified mediator business in Lake Tahoe. More info in online.

• The Sugar Pine Foundation collected 27 bags of resistant sugar pine cones this season. That’s more than 40,000 seeds.

• Genoa’s 92nd annual Candy Dance is Sept. 29-30 from 9am-5pm.

• Kirkwood Mountain Resort is having a job fair Oct. 13 from 9am-3pm at the Red Cliffs building.

Join Unity at the Lake for a weekly study of Gloria Karpinski’s book “Barefoot on Holy Ground”.

This is a practical book full of numerous effective exercises and meditations that will help manifest your spiritual intentions in the nitty-gritty reality of everyday life.

All are invited whether you’ve read the book or not.

A donation will be gratefully accepted at each meeting.

For more info, call (530) 544.2266.

The event is Oct. 3 from 6:30-8pm Unity, 1195 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

Unused or expired medications are unsafe to have in the medicine cabinet or drawer. The old advice of flushing them down the toilet or putting them down the drain is no longer environmentally correct.

The best and safest way to dispose of drugs properly is to take the medication to a drug drop off location such as the one that’s taking place Sept. 29 on the North Shore.

No Drugs Down the Drain is from 9am-1pm in Tahoe City at the North Tahoe Fire Protection District Offices and in Truckee at the Nevada County sheriff’s substation.

These practices will help protect aquatic life and preserve water quality and will reduce the amount of pharmaceutical products flowing into the nation’s waterways.

The University of California is hosting a two-part workshop series on succession planning to help forest landowners learn simple techniques to pass their land and its legacy on to the next generation.

The first workshop is being offered at seven locations throughout California. In the central Sierra Nevada, workshops will be in Auburn on Oct. 30, Jackson on Nov. 13, and Sacramento on Nov. 15. All workshops will be from 6-8pm.

During this first workshop, participants will learn the steps needed to plan for passing land along to their heirs. An important first step in this process is clarifying the current owners’ goals and values for their family forest or ranch. This allows landowners to start the discussion with heirs about their long term vision for the property.

Participants will also learn about the financial impacts of ownership transfers across generations.

The second workshop will be after the holidays and will cover the financial and legal approaches and tools such as trusts, limited liability companies, and easements used in succession planning as well as specific planning approaches used to manage land and resources.

Dates and times of the second workshop will be announced later.

Registration for the workshop is $25 per family to cover costs of the family workbook and DVD. Multiple members of each family are encouraged to attend both workshops. For information on registration, locations of the central Sierra workshops or the entire workshop series, go online  or contact Susie Kocher at (530) 542.2571 or sdkocher@ucanr.edu.

Celebrate Teen Read Week at the Douglas County Public Library by taking part in a short story/poetry writing contest about your best Halloween experience.

Stories should be between 500 and 2,500 words. Entrants must be in grades 6-12.

Contest entries will be accepted Oct. 1-13.

The prize is a Halloween pumpkin filled with candy.

Email entries to mpearson@douglas.lib.nv.us.

To the community,

It is beyond any words of appreciation and thanks that I can express for the concern, sympathy, prayers and all the offers of help I have received since the incident on Sept. 18.

On the afternoon of Sept. 18, a freak accident resulted in the complete loss of my home of 40 years at Pioneer Trail and April Drive in South Lake Tahoe. The entire structure and all of the contents, including hundreds of my paintings, original oils, watercolors, serigraphs, all my tools, paints, computers, printers, framing equipment, documents, photos and 40 years of things are gone.

The fire started in my downstairs studio/gallery from an antique wood stove which I have used without incident for 35 years to quell the morning chill while working in the studio. On the 18th, I was in the adjacent room, actually the garage, cutting some boards for a crate to be shipped with a large painting. The miter saw was still on, so my first alarm was the smell of smoke.

Some packing material was on fire with flames about 2-feet tall and heavy smoke. With a gallon jug of water I attempted to douse the flames, but the intensity of the heat kept me from getting near enough. Also solvents, paint, a chain saw with gas in it were under the worktable.

So, choosing another option, I ran around the outside of the house, turned the hose on full blast and opened the studio door. Time lapse 30, 45 seconds. Then the blast tossed me back. I did pull the door shut and called 911. My van and a pickup truck were parked in front of the house as usual. By the time I parked both in my neighbor’s driveway the first fire engine arrived. Amazing response! Within minutes there were a dozen or more emergency vehicles; South Lake Tahoe police, fire units, CHP, ambulance, command units, perhaps more. There is a fire hydrant on both corners of the property on Pioneer Trail.

Flames shot through the studio roof skylight, but several hoses were already in action. Me, in just a bit of a daze … well, I was stomping out cinder fires in the pine needles in my neighbor’s driveway and yard when a fireman and, I assume, a paramedic sat me down and politely but firmly said my next stop was Barton Hospital ER.

“But please may I get some things out of the van and lock it ..” — uttering some words like that as I was escorted to the ambulance gurney. “Nope, all that stuff in the van is safe, you sir, are going to the hospital now”.

So, the last glance I had of what was 3120 Pioneer was out the back window with flames hitting the tree canopy as the siren came on. The ride, IV, oxygen mask, arrival at Barton was kind of a blur, but nurses, doctors, EKG, X-ray followed immediately.

Friends visited shortly after arriving in the ER, within minutes. Lauren, Kris, Bob, thank you … others as well that I may not recall. Then two days in ICU and an other in the Nursing Care Center. Face burns, smoke and some crud in the lungs and eyes that got a little toasted. That was the scariest and the most painful.

Up until Dr. William Downey came to the ICU, hauling his microscope, examined my eyes, ordered some medication and assured me that no permanent damage occurred, I had some crazy thoughts of starting up classical guitar or dictating travel stories from some 50 sailing and canal trips abroad. However, my 1960 Martin was in the pile of ashes, and truthfully, I had way too good a time on those sailing trips to remember much of it.

With Dr. Downey’s words and all those wonderful nurses applying medication to my eyes three times a day, I was much relieved that I could still be a painter. No paints, no brushes, canvas or studio but yes, eyes! By the way, those nurses were, I am sure, beautiful in addition to being so attentive and caring, I just could not see them. My heart, respiration, facial burns and the eye injury were under constant care and vigilance by the doctors, Dr. Telisac and Dr. Tang, also Dr. Orr in the ER, all the nurses and hospital staff. I cannot imagine receiving better care anywhere. I am not saying I want to go back — except of course, for a thank you visit.

Now for all you wonderful friends who came to visit me at the ICU, those of you who came and the nurses kept you out, all the flowers, (I saw them through the window … no flowers in the room rule) … the snacks, clothes, toiletries, thank you dearly.

I could not answer all the phone calls since I had practically no voice for two days. The nurses patiently took all the messages, day and night, brought them to me on post-it notes, which sadly I only saw as fuzzy yellow squares. All are saved stuck in my notebook along with the flower cards, notes and emails friends kept and forwarded. Saturday evening I had recovered enough to go home … OK, to a home.

Sunday was recovery day from the recovery. Today, Monday, was a brief time at the Ski Run Marina Gallery, a new cell phone with same old number and starting on the long list of returning phone calls and answering notes and emails on a more personal basis. Please bear with me, my voice is only good for a few conversations before the irritation starts up, but is better every day. I can see to write this, yet reluctant to drive.

I truly feel blessed with so many friends and even some strangers offering me housing, and help of all sorts. I have a cabin to stay in for a while from a very dear and longtime friend. It happens to be filled with a bunch of my paintings. So in a way, I am home. I do and will need help. My spirit, faith and confidence are intact knowing you are there.

So, there is the story. Admittedly, some omissions, lapses in memory, and a desire not to bore you with a long and tedious narrative … to late, huh? I know there are several versions floating out there in cyberspace already, like arson … a meth lab explosion … who knows what else. Anyway, this time you heard it from the “hoarse’s” mouth.

God bless you all … true friends really are your family. I am fortunate to have you.

Peter Darvas

—–

Notes:

• For anyone interested in contributing to Peter’s recovery fund, El Dorado Savings Bank has set up a “Peter Darvas Assistance/Peter Darvas Donations” account. A contribution may be made at any branch of El Dorado Savings Bank to the named account. By mail: El Dorado Savings Bank, P.O. Box 14545, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96151 —  Account No.: 143015725.

• The official report from Lake Valley Fire, which is in charge of the investigation, should be released any day. Lake Valley Chief Gareth Harris told Lake Tahoe News, “The cause was accidental.”

The American Century Championship will distribute $65,000 to South Shore charities.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, the celebrity golf tournament’s nationally designated charity, in partnership with the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, NBC Sports and American Century Investments, will provide funds to area nonprofits for specific needs to help make a difference in the community.

Nonprofits have until Oct. 15 to apply for funding. Applications are online. Recipients will be announced Nov. 1, with checks presented at the LTVA meeting Nov. 8 at 3pm.

By Kayla Johnson

September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension nutrition experts are urging parents to let their children serve themselves as a way to prevent overeating.

In Nevada, almost a third of children entering kindergarten are overweight or obese, according to UNCE nutrition experts. But there are ways to keep those statistics from increasing, and the effort should start at home, according to Madeleine Sigman-Grant, a University of Nevada Cooperative Extension maternal specialist.

One solution, Sigman-Grant said, is for parents to encourage self-serving.

It is common for parents to tell their child to clean their plate, but many children are being asked to eat more than they need, Sigman-Grant said. Allowing children to serve themselves helps keep portion sizes under control, Sigman-Grant said.

Self-serving is an important skill for young children as they learn to adjust their food intake to their energy needs. Doing so helps them make connections between serving and their eating cues. It also involves the development of motor skills such as holding utensils, passing food, using good manners and learning to share.

“Self-serving makes a preschool child a part of the family,” Sigman-Grant said. “They are doing something that their older siblings and parents are doing. They have the opportunity to take control over the amount they eat.”

Sigman-Grant considers self-serving a “messy” process, but the end goal is to get the child to become self-sufficient.

“In the beginning when the child first starts self-serving they will probably take too much,” Sigman-Grant said. “That is when the parent or the child-care provider comes in to alert the child how much they really need to eat and how hungry the child is. Within a week or two the child will adjust because it gives them control. There is no way a parent can tell how hungry a child is, so self-serving is a self-help tool and is another part of the child growing up.”

One worry for many parents who are hesitant to implement self-serving is that their child will not serve themselves enough and will not have the right kind of food.

“Getting enough food is something a lot of parents worry about because the rate of growth is very slow in toddlers and preschoolers compared to when they were infants so they don’t need as much food,” Sigman-Grant said. “If you offer healthy foods with a lot of variety in small meals then there should be no worries.”

While self-serving can be messy and frustrating, it is beneficial for both the child and parents.

“The pride a parent feels in a child accomplishing a skill can never be underestimated,” Sigman-Grant said.

Tips:

• Encourage children to serve themselves.

• Do not insist that children finish all of the food on their plates.

• Let your child serve one part of the meal —for instance, a pasta dish one day, and a vegetable side dish the next.

• Have your child say “when” as foods are being portioned to allow to have a role in how much they would like to eat.

• Avoid praising a clean plate. Allow children to decide how much is eaten.

• Talk to children about how their stomach feels before, during, and after the meal.

• Help the child and support the child as the child is taking the food.

• Trust your child to eat the amount that is right for him or her.

• Pay attention to portion size: If the first serving is small, a second will be OK. Don’t eat out of cartons. Use kid-size cups and plates.

• Provide healthy food choices and then let kids learn how to rely on their own hunger and fullness cues.

Kayla Johnson is with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.