LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Association of Realtors, or LCAOR, reported that the November median sales price and number of sales for single family residences remained steady when compared to October 2016 sales.

The median sales price in November was $255,000, down by 1.9 percent from the October median of $260,000, the association reported. The median sales price year to date, as of Dec. 21, is $237,000.

The number of sales in November was 70 which was 6.7 percent less than the 75 sales reported in October, LCAOR's report said.

On a year-over-year basis, the November 2016 median sales price of $255,000 was up from $252,250 in November 2015. LCAOR said the number of sales was down by 18.6 percent. In November 2015 there were 86 sales compared to the 70 in November 2016.

“Aside from residential sales we have seen an increase in commercial sales in the county,” said newly install 2017 LCAOR President Bobby Dutcher. “The year-to-date dollar volume for commercial sales is $14.2 million and that is up from the $8.5 million in 2015 and $11.8 million in 2014. The three years prior to 2014 averaged $5 million  in commercial sales.”

Cash only sales made up 26.7 percent of the financing for residential sales while loan financing accounted for over 64 percent of the sales.

Ten percent of the residential sales could be attributed to distressed property sales, properties that were sold after a foreclosure.

Recently the Fed raised interest rates by 0.25 percent and this will effect mortgage rates for prospective buyers. It is also likely to increase payments on homes that currently have a variable interest rate.

According to NerdWallet interest rates have risen 0.50 percent since the election, but at slightly over 4.0 percent interest rates are still well below 44-year historical average of 8.0 percent.

LAKE COUNTY NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

November 2016
Median price: $255,000
Median days to sell: 82
Units sold: 70

October 2016
Median price: $260,000
Median days to sell: 69
Units sold: 75

November 2015
Median price: $252,250
Median days to sell: 107
Units sold: 86

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – At Christmastime, the home of Kim and Steve Bauer needs to be seen to be believed.

At their home at the corner of First and Hoover streets in Clearlake Oaks, the couple have set up an annual Christmas display that draws visitors from around the county.

Some people, just driving by, had to pull over on a recent night to wonder at it.

“You just brought some joy to my life tonight,” said a woman who stopped to take pictures of the display.

“Oh, this is beautiful,” a man driving by in a minivan said through the window to the Bauers.

The Live Oak Senior Center bus also recently made a pass so its riders could enjoy the display, Kim Bauer said.

The Bauers have been doing the display for about five years, taking a break last year due to the illness of Steve's father.

This year, they were back at it, wanting to make it bigger and better than ever, both as a tribute to their family member and a celebration of the season.

Kim Bauer said it takes about a month and a half to cover nearly every inch of their home and yard with lights and decorations of every kind.

On the roof is “Rex,” the dinosaur from Toy Story, wearing a Santa hat and holding a present in his mouth, while he moves his head side to side. A sock monkey sits on the chimney, while nearby the Grinch and Santa Claus are perched on the roof.

In the yard there's a nativity scene, along with Scooby Doo, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Mickey Mouse, Tigger and other lighted characters, some of them moving.

Steve Bauer is a roofer, so he does the rooftop decorations. His wife said he also painstakingly works to create the lighted outline of a Christmas tree on one very sloped part of the roof.

Their energy bill runs about $1,200 a month during the holiday months. Kim Bauer credited her boss, Dean Pick of First Pick Builders, for helping them out this year with a generator that is helping cut the cost a bit.

However, the expense, for the Bauers, is worth it.

“People really like it,” Kim Bauer said of the display.

The display generally is on through the evening, until about 9:30 or 10 p.m., Kim Bauer said.

One night, an elderly man drove all the way from Kelseyville to see the Bauers' light extravaganza. But by the time he arrived, it was after 10 p.m. and the lights had been turned off.

He knocked on the door, explained how far he had come, and offered to pay them $5 to turn the lights back on. Kim Bauer said she was happy to oblige for free so he and his wife could enjoy them.

For the Bauers, they hope their seasonal effort brings some enjoyment to peoples' lives.

They invite people to come by and see it while it's still up. Kim Bauer said the display will be in place through Jan. 4.

Not ones to be satisfied with their light spectacular, they're already planning for next year, and how much more they can add to their display.

If Kim Bauer could build up, she would, and she's been trying to figure out how to extend the display. She mused about putting a Santa Claus in a tree at the corner of her property.

“Next year,” Steve Bauer said in a soft but determined voice, “it will be bigger.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

As engines are fired, software written and hardware welded to prepare for the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), engineers are already running tests in supersonic wind tunnels to develop the next, more powerful version of the world's most advanced launch vehicle capable of carrying humans to deep space destinations.

“Aeronautics leads the way in the design of a new rocket,” said Jeff Bland, SLS discipline lead engineer for Integrated Vehicle Structures & Environments at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “The first leg any journey for spacecraft launched from Earth is a flight through our atmosphere.”

Manufacturing is well underway on the initial configuration of SLS. It is 322 feet tall and able to lift 70 metric tons.

For the first test flight of SLS, the rocket will carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond the moon and then return to Earth, deploying 13 small science and technology satellites in deep space during the journey.

The new wind tunnel tests are for the second generation of SLS. It will deliver a 105-metric-ton (115-ton) lift capacity and will be 364 feet tall in the crew configuration – taller than the Saturn V that launched astronauts on missions to the moon.

The rocket's core stage will be the same, but the newer rocket will feature a powerful exploration upper stage. On SLS’s second flight with Orion, the rocket will carry up to four astronauts on a mission around the moon, in the deep-space proving ground for the technologies and capabilities needed on NASA’s Journey to Mars.

Scale models of the upgraded rocket in crew and cargo configurations are being carefully positioned in wind tunnels for test programs to obtain data needed to refine the design of the rocket and its guidance and control systems, said Dr. John Blevins, SLS lead engineer for aerodynamics and acoustics at Marshall. During hundreds of test runs at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, engineers are measuring the forces and loads that air induces on the launch vehicle during every phase of its mission.

“All the critical aerodynamic environments, from when the upgraded rocket leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral to launch, acceleration through the sound barrier and booster separation at greater than Mach 4 are evaluated in these four tests,” Blevins said.

Ascent tests completed at Ames in November determined the rocket's behavior as it climbs after launch, and the kind of instructions to be programmed into the rocket flight computer for guidance and control as the rocket passes through transonic flight. For instance, the tests will determine what commands the autopilot will send to the rocket's nozzles to correct for wind or other factors and stay on course.

Buffet testing at Langley in November focused primarily on how the cargo version of the upgraded rocket behaves as it moves through the atmosphere at just below the speed of sound, approaching about 800 miles per hour, then moves into supersonic flight.

As the rocket approaches the speed of sound, shock waves build and move along different points of the launch vehicle. These shock waves can cause buffeting, shaking, vibration and unsteady loads that could result in damage or course changes that must be corrected, Blevins said.

The cargo version of the upgraded rocket has a smooth fairing above the exploration upper stage instead of the Orion spacecraft and launch abort system, so separate wind tunnel testing is needed.

Similar tests planned for the fall 2017 at Langley will include observing this transonic shock oscillation and buffeting on the crew version of the rocket, at both subsonic speeds and higher Mach numbers.

At Mach 1.5 or 2, the waves terminate, or remain at the same points on the rocket for the rest of the flight, but they continue to change angle and strength.

These wind tunnel tests are critical, Blevins said, because the location and temporal behavior of these shock waves are difficult to predict with computational fluid dynamics – they must be observed and measured.

Two other test series are planned at Langley. The first in early 2017 will provide data to ensure that as the SLS’s two solid rocket boosters separate from the rocket during ascent, they don't come back into contact with the vehicle.

These tests are complex, Blevins said, because the models of the rocket’s core stage and each of the two boosters are separately instrumented, and even the dynamics of the small rocket motors that jettison the boosters are simulated.

Next will be liftoff transition testing, scheduled in the summer. These tests will include evaluation of the effects of winds on the rocket as it is waiting on the pad, and the presence of the mobile launcher and tower during liftoff. Drift of the vehicle as it moves past the tower must be controlled to avoid damage and because the sound bouncing back from the pad can cause damaging vibration.

“We expect that at the end of this test series we will have all the aerodynamic flight data needed for the upgraded rocket,” he said. “We'll be ready for the first flight with crew, targeted as early as 2021, and subsequent flights.”

NASA engineers have also teamed with CUBRC Inc. of Buffalo, New York, to use a special type of wind tunnel to better understand and analyze how the SLS heats up as it ascends into space. A model of the rocket was used in the first phase of aerodynamic heating tests in CUBRC's Large Energy National Shock Tunnel (LENS-II) in September. A second phase of testing is planned for models of the SLS in crew and cargo versions, in early 2017.

The SLS wind tunnel testing is very much a cross-agency effort resulting in information and new test techniques that also benefit other rocket and aerospace programs, said Dr. Patrick Shea. He's based at Langley, but served as SLS aerodynamics test lead for the transonic ascent testing recently completed at the Ames facilities.

For example, the Ames aerodynamics team is developing an optical measurement method involving Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint. During a test, special lights and cameras will observe changes in the paint's fluorescence, indicating the strength of aerodynamic forces acting along different areas of the rocket or test article. Ames was able to take advantage of the presence of the SLS rocket model to conduct its own tests using the paint.

“For a lot of aero-acoustics and buffet work, we instrument the models with hundreds of pressure sensors. If we can start moving to more of an optical technique such as the dynamic pressure sensitive paint, it will really make good strides forward,” Shea said. “It ended up being a really nice integration of their test technique and our test campaign.”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has a shelter filled with cats who would like to have homes of their own for this holiday season.

This holiday week's cats include calicoes, tabbies of various colors, a black cat and tuxedos.

Several of the cats are being offered for $10 each – including spay/neuter, vaccination and microchip – thanks to a sponsorship begun last week that so far has resulted in five other cats getting new homes. The cats offered for $10 are noted below. The all-black cat also has been sponsored and is available for free to an approved home.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets there, hoping you'll choose them.

For those looking for a barn cat to keep the rodents at bay, be sure to ask about the barn cat adoption program. Feral barn cats are adopted out for $1 each, which includes altering, ear notching and vaccines. 

In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Shelter_Animal_Search.htm .

The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (other cats pictured on the animal control Web site that are not listed here are still “on hold”).

Domestic short hair

This young female tuxedo cat has a short cat and gold eyes.

She's in cat room kennel No. 7, ID No. 6666.

Male lynx point

This male lynx point has a short coat and blue eyes.

He is offered for adoption for $10.

He's in cat room kennel No. 19, ID No. 6564.

Domestic short hair

This female domestic short hair has a calico coat gold eyes.

She's in cat room kennel No. 32, ID No. 6687.

'Muchy'

“Muchy” is a gray and white female domestic short hair mix.

She has green eyes and already has been spayed.

She's in cat room kennel No. 39, ID No. 6714.

Orange tabby

This orange tabby has a short coat and green eyes.

Shelter staff said he's altered and available for $1 through the barn cat program.

The cat is in cat room kennel No. 43, ID No. 6693.

Domestic short hair

This young female domestic short hair has a black and white coat and gold eyes.

She's in cat room kennel No. 75a, ID No. 6658.

Domestic short hair

This young male domestic short hair cat has an orange and white coat and gold eyes.

He's in cat room kennel No. 75b, ID No. 6663.

Orange tabby

This orange tabby cat has a short coat and gold eyes.

Shelter staff said the cat is available through its barn cat program for $1.

The cat is in cat room kennel No. 101, ID No. 6717.

Domestic short hair

This young male domestic short hair has an orange tabby coat with white markings and gold eyes.

He's in cat room kennel No. 109a, ID No. 6659.

Domestic short hair

This young male domestic short hair has an all-black coat and gold eyes.

He has been sponsored and is available for free to an approved family.

He's in cat room kennel No. 109b, ID No. 6661.

Domestic short hair

This young female domestic short hair cat has a gray tabby coat and gold eyes.

She is offered for adoption for $10.

She's in cat room kennel No. 112, ID No. 6555.

Orange tabby

This male orange tabby has a short coat and gold eyes. He already has been altered.

He's in cat room kennel No. 119, ID No. 6513.

Domestic short hair

This female domestic short hair has a gray tabby coat and gold eyes.

She is offered for adoption for $10.

She's in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. 6416.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Children around Lake County have received Christmas surprises this holiday season thanks to the generosity of a celebrity chef and restaurateur who now makes his home here part-time.

This past week, a truckload of toys purchased by Guy Fieri arrived in Lake County, according to Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin.

Fieri is the star of several cooking shows, including “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” and “Guy's Grocery Games,” as well as an author and owner of numerous restaurants across the United States,

Martin estimated that more than 150 children received gifts through Fieri's efforts.

This year, the literal truckload of gifts included 46 bikes, which the sheriff's office augmented with helmets, Martin said.

Martin said the toys arrived in the county on Monday, and on Wednesday were delivered to children in foster care, at the local rancherias and those who were served by the District Attorney's Office Victim-Witness Division.

In addition, Martin said his deputies were given toys to distribute to children who they knew could use some help at Christmas.

Fieri, Martin said, knows that some children don't get as much as they should at the holidays.

This is the second year Fieri has donated toys to Lake County children, said Martin.

Fieri, who has a ranch in the south county, also made a point during the Valley fire last year of visiting first responders – including firefighters, law enforcement officers, the prison kitchen crew, and support staff at the command post in Lakeport – to offer support and encouragement, Martin said.

Martin said Fieri also headed up the effort to present the sheriff's office employee appreciation dinner. “He's truly a generous person.”

Fieri, who comes from a small town – he's from Ferndale in Humboldt County – has made a point of paying it forward and sharing his success.

He's also involved with a toy run in Sonoma County that benefits children that are served by a number of Northern California organizations, according to a statement he made earlier this month on his Facebook page.

Martin added of Fieri, “I'm glad he calls Lake County home, even if it's for part-time.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

"Rocking around the Christmas tree
At the Christmas party hop
Mistletoe hung where you can see
Every couple tries to stop"
 – from "Rocking Around The Christmas Tree" by Johnny Marks

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – According to the History Channel we enjoy the green of a holiday tree, and have since before Christianity, because evergreen trees and bushes were special in winter solstice festivities.

In times past greenery was placed across doors and windows in hopes that disease and bad spirits would be kept at bay.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we note the shortest day and hence, the longest night arrive annually on Dec. 21 or 22.

Back in the 1740s the Pennsylvania settlers displayed what is thought to be the first of the American Christmas trees, while the tradition of Christmas trees in North America is said to have originated in Canada in 1781.

Our state of California joins three others – Wisconsin, North Carolina and Oregon – as the preeminent Christmas tree growing states in the U.S., according to the Web site www.history.com .

The site also states that some of the most popular trees sold are Douglas fir, white pine and scotch pine.

Trees were adorned with fruit, nuts and candles, until Thomas Edison's team found a way to employ electric lights on trees.

A popular tree adornment, tinsel, now made of plastic, once contained lead and was prohibited for sale by the U.S. government.

Today we enjoy placing garlands, candy canes, ornaments and gingerbread on our trees, with a topping of an angel or star.

The tree decorating technique known as “flocking” to simulate a snow-covered tree made its debut in the 1800s when trees were wrapped in cotton.

Trees of a similar style of flocking were depicted in Hollywood movies of the 1940s and 50s, when the style was adopted by those in the West Coast's warmer climates.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – They don't yet have new homes for Christmas, but there is a shelter filled with dogs at Lake County Animal Care and Control that are waiting to find a new family this holiday season.

This holiday week's dogs include mixes of American Bulldog, beagle, boxer, Chihuahua, Doberman Pinscher, German Shepherd, husky, Labrador Retriever, Miniature Pinscher, pit bull, Shar Pei, shepherd and terrier.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

Miniature Pinscher

This female Miniature Pinscher has a short black and tan coat and a docked tail.

She's in kennel No. 2, ID No. 6696.

Shepherd-beagle mix

This female shepherd-beagle mix has a short tricolor coat, and has been waiting a long time for a new home.

She's in kennel No. 9, ID No. 6517.

'Lola'

“Lola” is a female pit bull terrier with a short red and white coat.

She already has been altered.

She's in kennel No. 10, ID No. 6695.

Terrier-Shar Pei mix

This male terrier-Shar Pei mix has a short black coat with white markings and floppy ears.

He's in kennel No. 11, ID No. 6505.

'Heather'

“Heather” is a female boxer and pit bull mix with a short brindle and white coat and green eyes.

She's in kennel No. 13, ID No. 6703.

Female husky

This female husky has a medium-length red and white coat.

She's in kennel No. 15a, ID No. 6698.

Pit bull mix

This female pit bull mix has a short tan and white coat.

She's in kennel No. 18, ID. No. 6671.

'Rusty'

“Rusty” is a senior male German Shepherd.

He has a long black and brown coat.

He's in kennel No. 19a, ID No. 6715.

Male pit bull

This male pit bull has a short blue and white coat.

He has been sponsored and is available for free to an approved family.

He's in kennel No. 21, ID No. 6665.

'Max'

“Max” is a male Shar Pei-pit bull mix with a short black and white coat.

Shelter staff said he already has been neutered, and would do well in a home with no livestock.

He's in kennel No. 25, ID No. 6629.

Male shepherd mix

This male shepherd mix has a short tan, black and white coat.

He's in kennel No. 26, ID No. 6630.

Labrador Retriever mix

This male Labrador Retriever mix has a short black coat.

He's in kennel No. 27, ID No. 6684.

Yellow Labrador Retriever

This female yellow Labrador Retriever has a short coat.

She's in kennel No. 31, ID No. 6705.

'Tina'

“Tina” is a female American Bulldog with a short white coat.

She's in kennel No. 32a, ID No. 6708.

'Dolly'

“Dolly” is a female American Bulldog with a short white coat.

She's in kennel No. 32b, ID No. 6709.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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