Brownie

Brownie is a young girl with lots of personality, despite the rough time she’s had during her first year.

Even though she was underweight and much too young, she became pregnant and then lost all her puppies. But Brownie is in foster care to gain back that much-needed weight, and is proving to be a sweet, charming girl who plays nicely with other dogs, sleeps very quietly through the night, walks well on a leash, and is housetrained. She does sometimes jump on people and she is nervous when left alone, but these are not surprising behaviors for a young, mistreated dog and will diminish as she receives training and consistent care.

Brownie is spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated. Please call the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers (530.573.7925) to inquire further about Brownie. Her foster family will make it easy to meet her.

And go online to see photos and descriptions of all other pets at the shelter.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

— Karen Kuentz

By Anita Creamer and Phillip Reese, Sacramento Bee

In her professional life, Sacramento public relations executive Kassy Perry has long represented health organizations trying to combat California’s obesity problem. In her personal life, she has struggled with weight loss, trying with little success to drop the 30 pounds she gained after age 50. Today, at 52, she’s active and athletic. But the weight won’t melt away.

She feels embarrassed that she hasn’t lost the weight, she said, and she’s frustrated with the often simplistic approach weight-loss advocates take.

“It’s easy to say people need more education,” Perry said, “like they don’t know not to have a box of doughnuts and a gallon of juice first thing in the morning.

“We know better. It’s not just that people are ignorant.”

Across the nation, the number of baby boomers who are overweight or obese continues to climb, and as a group, they have hit middle age much heavier than the previous generation. Almost three of four people ages 49 to 67 – the baby boom generation – are overweight or obese in the four-county Sacramento region, according to a new survey from the UCLA Center of Health Policy Research.

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By Huffington Post

Sudden cardiac arrest — when your heart stops functioning because of an electrical disturbance, which can lead to death if not treated immediately with CPR or defibrillation — is known to occur more often between the hours of 6am and 10am. But why?

According to new research, it could have something to do with levels of a protein called KLF15, which regulates electrical activity in the heart.

Dr. Mukesh Jain of Case Western Reserve University and colleagues found that people with heart failure tend to have low levels of this protein. Plus, they found in mice that this protein seems to be the link between circadian rhythm — the body’s internal clock — and sudden cardiac arrest.

“Sudden cardiac death due to this electrical instability causes an estimated 325,000 deaths annually in the United States alone,” Jain said in a statement. “That includes the three out of four heart disease deaths in people aged 35-44. In all too many cases, there is no second chance. The first event is the last event. Our research points the way toward possible ways of easing that toll — new drugs that could reduce that risk, for example.”

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By Doug Vermeeren

Although we live in the richest and most advanced society the world has ever known, many of us say we need more money in order to be happy.

Even some of those in the top percentile of earners often feel like they don’t have enough money.

The math is simple: More money does not equal more happiness. It’s our attitude toward money, not the amount, that influences our happiness the most.

Happiness researchers Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, professors at the Harvard Business School, recently published research indicating that it’s not money that makes people happy, nor the things people buy with it. Rather, it’s the experiences one has that ultimately account for happiness.

How you experience your money on a day-to-day basis is what matters. If the software running in your brain is constantly reinforcing the message “it’s not enough”, then that is likely how you will see yourself and experience your life – as “not enough.”

Here are the three fallacies of abundance as it relates to happiness:

• We are all entitled to a certain amount of wealth: The feeling that we deserve or are owed a certain amount of wealth will always make us unhappy with whatever we have. While we are entitled to certain human rights, those do not include a winning lottery ticket. In reality, we are not owed any amount of abundance and, in fact, should count ourselves lucky if we’re able to meet our basic needs; many in the world are not. More of us, however, would be happier simply appreciating what we have.

• The result of our labors is money: Money is a means to an end, not an end in itself. This can be a challenge to keep in mind since so much of our lives are spent in the pursuit of money. We work and go to school to support ourselves and our families. We see things we want, and we know we need more money for them. Study after study shows, however, that what really makes us happy is what we do and who we do it with, and not how much money we spend.

• We’ll be happiest when we finally reach our goal: We are happiest when we are progressing toward a goal. When we lose sight of our goal, veer off the path toward our goal, and even achieve our goal, we’re less happy. Rather than setting one goal and deciding you will be happy when you meet it, you’ll be most happy if you continually set goals and relish your journey toward them.

Doug Vermeeren is an internationally renowned public speaker, author, movie producer and director.

Father Grace stays active playing golf three times a week. Photo/Provided

By Kathryn Reed

Father Grace is finally slowing down.

He told Barton Memorial Hospital this month to no longer call him in an emergency. For decades the staff would call him at all hours of the night if a patient requested to see him or someone had a taken a turn for the worse.

But he’s not done with the South Lake Tahoe medical facility. He plans to keep popping in to see if there are patients who might want his counsel – even if they aren’t Catholic.

John Grace will be 93 years old on Sept. 18. Most of those years have been spent in the basin. He moved here in 1956. This was when about 100 people lived in town during the winter.

He moved from Ireland to Sacramento in 1948 at a time when the United States needed Catholic priests and it was near impossible to get a job in his native country.

And while he is in a serious business, he seldom doesn’t have a smile and he knows how to have fun.

Not long after he arrived in Tahoe he was driving down Echo Summit into the basin when two elephants came running toward his vehicle. Not knowing what to do he drove between them. He told parishioners about this and they apparently worried Grace might have gotten into the communal wine.

Then word got out there had been a circus in Nevada that was using the elephants to pull a truck and the chains broke loose. So, there really were elephants roaming in the Sierra Nevada.

Grace has always been about doing what’s right for the community. It didn’t take him long to realize South Lake Tahoe needed a hospital. It was 50 years ago this year that the hospital’s doors opened.

Grace signed the paperwork establishing Barton as a nonprofit organization. He was also part of the committee that applied for the federal grant that provided matching funds for the construction of the hospital.

“When the hospital opened I started visiting the patients and have been doing so ever since,” Grace told Lake Tahoe News. “That is a calling of a priest; to take care of the sick. They are the people who need you. As a priest that is one of your callings. If don’t do that, you are not doing your duty.”

He used to be on the hospital’s board of directors. But when they started meeting on Sunday mornings he had to resign. He joked it was their way to get him off the board. At that time his Sunday mornings were reserved for delivering Mass at St. Theresa Catholic Church.

It was in 1997 that he stopped being the full time clergy at the local church.

“I wanted to get away from administration work. I retired as pastor, which meant I didn’t do any administration. I assisted with Masses on Sunday,” Grace said.

But to this day he is not fully retired. The people won’t let him. He continues to perform weddings, funerals and baptisms when families ask him to. He is now on the third generation for some families when it comes to baptisms.

Grace, still with a bit of an Irish accent, jokes that he fell through the cracks and that’s why the bishop left him in South Lake Tahoe.

Part of the truth is he didn’t mind the snow and others did. He would be the one firing up the old Dodge to plow the parking lot before services.

Grace is responsible for the church, Grace Hall and the K-6 school getting built.

Doug Morris has known Grace since moving here in 1962 as a high school sophomore. His dad was the minister at the Presbyterian Church. This was during the time of Vatican II and students from various religious backgrounds were brought together to discuss the changes in the Catholic Church.

After getting married, Morris converted to Catholicism. Now he sees Grace on a regular basis – at the hospital where he is a volunteer for the auxiliary and on the golf course each week.

Golfing is how Grace would spend his one day off from the church.

“It was relaxing. It got me out, away from the desk, and meeting people,” Grace said.

Today he is on the course three days a week. It might be Lake Tahoe Golf Course or Edgewood Tahoe, and usually Genoa in the winter.

“He’s a little competitive. He likes to have a good score,” Morris said.

It’s not unusual for Grace to be playing and for people to come up to him and reflect on a time he helped them.

Golf is such a part of who he is that St. Theresa School named a tournament after him. Sept. 12 was the second annual Father Grace Golf Tournament, which is a fundraiser for the school.

By Ryan Grenoble, Huffington Post

A study confirms what we’ve long suspected: Vacations are great for mental health and bad for jobs you hate.

The survey, conducted by Monster.com, found 70 percent of people are more likely to look for another job after they return from vacation. The results are based on a poll of more than 1,200 people who visited Monster’s website in the U.S. between July and August of this year.

“Vacations are a great time for self assessment. They offer free time, relaxation and detachment from your day-to-day routine,” explained Mary Ellen Slayter, Career Advice Expert for Monster.com, in a press release.

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A cast of nearly 60 performers has been selected for Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company’s production of “Les Misérables” in November.

WNMTC will present 10 performances of the famed international hit on weekends, Nov. 8-24, at the Carson City Community Center.

Nick Favero has been cast in the lead role Jean Valjean, whose dark life as a convict is transformed by a saintly bishop after he nearly returns to prison for stealing.

Other cast members include Mark D. Williams as the diligent police inspector Javert, Melody Ricketts as the suffering Fantine, Kirk Gardner and Dianne Hale as the unscrupulous Thenardiers, Andie Anderson as the wistful Eponine, Maria Arrigotti and Andrew Collins as the lovers Cosette and Marius. Cosette Chamberlin and Grace McCully are double-cast as young Cosette.

The production is complemented by a professional orchestra. It is produced and directed by Stephanie Arrigotti, choreographed by Gina Kaskie Davis and conducted by Kevin Murphy.

“Les Mis” is the longest running musical in the world.

Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:30pm, with Sunday matinees at 2pm, plus a 2pm matinee on Nov. 23. Tickets are $25 or $28 and are available online or by calling 775-445-4249.

Bona Fide Books is offering a session for writers on how to correctly self-publish.

This presentation will include the top five mistakes common to self-publishers, and tips on sales and distribution, e-books, printing, and which corners not to cut.

Successful Self-Publishing is designed to save authors months of research and expensive errors.

A Q&A will follow the two-hour presentation.

The Oct. 14 6-8pm workshop costs $35. It will be at Bona Fide HQ, 1069 Magua St., No. 4., Meyers.

For more information, call (530) 573.1513 or e-mail editor@bonafidebooks.com.

The Lake Tahoe Community College Theater Arts Department is having auditions for its fall production of “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later” on Sept. 24 at 7pm in the college’s Duke Theatre.

This production commemorates the 15th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death.

Several events will be presented at the college in association with this production, including a screening of the new documentary film, “Matthew Shepard is a Friend of Mine.”

Shepard was a gay college student who was tortured and left for dead while tied to a fence in Laramie, Wyo., in October 1998. He died a few days later. The crime and how the community dealt with it was the focus of “The Laramie Project,” a theatrical production that came to LTCC in 2010.

In the years since the play’s creators first interviewed townspeople about their feelings, Shepard became an important icon in the fight for gay rights – a fight that has led to remarkable change in recent months. But how did the passing of time affect the town where the murder took place? And what of the two men found responsible for Shepard’s death? That’s the premise behind “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later,” a play that explores how a tragic event that became international news still haunts and shapes Laramie today.

Rehearsals will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings near the beginning and increasing.

Performances are the evenings of Nov. 15, 16, 21, 22 adn 23 and matinees on Nov. 7 and Nov. 24.

Five men and five women are needed to play multiple characters ranging in age from 18-65.

Scripts of the play are available in the LTCC Library for 48-hour checkouts.

For more information about auditions, contact Susan Boulanger at (530) 541.4660, ext. 240 or Boulanger@ltcc.edu.

By Teri Mizuhara

Even professionals can find it difficult to comprehend the speed at which a wildfire can move, so for the public it can be tough to understand it unless you have witnessed it firsthand.

With any luck, you may never have such a life changing experience.

Trying to predict what causes a small wildland fire in the neighborhood to grow to one of the largest wildland fires in the state’s history is challenging. The Rim Fire is burning in terrain similar to what we find in Amador and El Dorado counties, so it is a short leap to think, it could happen here.

CalFrie Unit Chief Kelly Keenan of the Amador-El Dorado-Sacramento Unit emphasizes that, “I imagine the residents of Tuolumne County never thought it could really happen to them, or that the Rim Fire could have burned 255,858 acres (400 square miles) in 28 days, but it has with ferocity that one seldom sees. With 80 percent of the fire contained, the third largest wildfire in the state’s history is still spotting ahead of itself and causing Yosemite National Park to close four of its campgrounds and the Stanislaus National Forest to close two of its ranger districts not to mention the road closures in the area.”

The Rim Fire illustrates the intensity of a wildland fire and how quickly it can increase in size. At its height, between Aug. 22-23, it was burning an average of 36 acres every single minute for a total of 51,754 acres in 24 hours.

These type fires can create their own weather, consume all the vegetation in their path and, when hot enough, create a water repellent or hydrophobic condition in the soils that can impede the re growth of the forest.

To illustrate just how quickly a wildfire can move, take a look at the Rim Fire stats:

Aug. 17 at 3:25pm the fire is reported.

Aug. 18 about 15 hours after the first report the fire is 200 acres and zero percent contained.

Aug. 19 at 7am the fire has quadrupled in size to 800 acres.

Aug. 20 at 7am the fire grew nearly 13 times its size in 24 hours to 10,170 acres.

Aug. 21 at 7am the fire has grown over 50 percent and is 16,228 acres.

Aug. 22 at 7am the fire more than tripled in size in 24 hours for a total of 53,866 acres.

Aug. 23 at 7am the fire nearly doubled in size again to 105,620 acres and 2 percent containment

Aug. 24 at 7pm the fire grew another 24,000 acres to 129,620 and 7 percent containment.

Sept. 13 at 7am the fire is now 255,858 acres (400 square miles) and 80 percent contained and has become the third largest wildland fire in the history of California since 1932, it is still not 100 percent contained.

Unfortunately, too often we hear people say, “my neighborhood has never had a fire like that so I don’t have to worry about it” or “I live in a million dollar home with a manicured landscape” somehow trusting that these unfounded beliefs will prevent them from becoming a victim of a wildland fire. But the truth is, every year we witness a neighborhood with “no fire history” subject to a catastrophic fire and million dollar homes with manicured landscaping destroyed in wildland fires.

Ignoring wildland fire potential is not the answer. We have all consciously chosen a lifestyle here in the Sierra, whether it is the rolling grasslands of the front country or the forested timberlands at elevation; we live in an area that is historically prone to wildland fires. We accept these risks but with that risk we also need to accept the responsibility of doing all we can to protect ourselves when a wildfire occurs.

Please go online for more information on what you can do to increase your fire safety, defensible space, and disaster preparedness.

Teri Mizuhara is the public information officer for the El Dorado-Amador CalFire unit.