Living Christmas

by Debbie Hager

The Assistance League ® Sierra Foothills is an all-volunteer organization supporting youth and seniors in El Dorado County. Flagship program Operation School Bell ® and Sports Locker provide disadvantaged children with new school clothes and youth sports scholarships. Additional programs aid youth with reading skills, seniors with social interactions, young adults with post-secondary tuition scholarships, and children who are being relocated to new homes because of abuse or neglect with duffel bags in which to carry their belongings.

Chapter Meetings (public welcome) are held every fourth Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at Faith Episcopal Church in Cameron Park. Come revel in holiday ambience and enjoy “Jingle! Mingle!” fundraiser, December 4 th . Indulge in craft beverages, food samplings, seasonal entertainment, beautiful raffle baskets, decorated Christmas trees, Christmas boutique and unique offerings by local artisans.

For more information visit assistanceleague.org/sierra-foothills

Living Christmas trees are festive and beautiful for the holiday season, as well as a new addition to your landscape after the holidays. Make certain that the tree will fit into your landscape and that the type of tree you are considering will ultimately thrive in your local environment. Most evergreen trees grow to be quite large, so it is important to take mature size into account during the decision-making process. Consider when the tree can be planted; if the ground is frozen, the tree will need to be cared for outdoors until a good planting time arrives.

Following the purchase of your tree, it needs to be watered and protected from the weather during a transition period. Do not bring it inside right away! The tree should be left in the garage or a covered outside area to ease the transition to being indoors. A thorough cleaning of debris should also be done at this time.

The placement of the tree indoors should be away from heating ducts, fireplaces or wood stoves. Decorate the tree with lights that produce little heat and water the tree regularly to keep the soil and roots moist. Provide as much natural light as possible. A week, seven days, is the premium time for a living tree to be indoors.

After the holidays, move the tree outdoors to a cool, bright porch for a few days to ease the transition back to outdoor temperatures.

When planting the tree, make certain that the top of the root ball or the tree crown is at, or slightly above ground level. Water the tree deeply and apply mulch continued on page 18

Colorado Blue Spruce Picea pungens “Glauca” is a good choice for a living Christmas tree. This spruce grows about one foot a year and likes plenty of water, so is a good choice near lawns.

Living Christmas

continued from page 17

The Colorado Blue Spruce is also good in a large planter for several years. The Dwarf Alberta Spruce Picea glauca ‘Conica’ grows very slowly, about three or four inches a year, and can be grown for years in a container as a small Christmas tree. The dwarf spruce is conical in shape and prefers regular watering, soil enriched with organic material, and shade from the hottest afternoon sun.

Christmas trees are usually more expensive than cut Christmas trees, but they also provide more value and create less waste.

A week is the premium time for a living tree to be indoors.

Enjoy the upcoming holiday season!

For more information about the demonstration gardens and monthly classes, hours, to sign up for newsletters,or even to ask a gardening question, visit the UCCE Master Gardeners of El Dorado County website found at mgeldorado.ucanr.edu.

Debbie Hager is a UCCE El Dorado Master Gardener.

Local Lifesavers

Looking for a designated driver other than to rock paper scissors in the parking lot or have a foot race to the company holiday party open bar?

You’ve got options...

El Dorado Taxi 530.647.6767

Hangtown Taxi 530.748.8294

Ride W/ Friends 916.716.7679

Cheri Love 916.224.5436

Niki Simpson 530.676.1277

Uber & Lyft Apps

Many of these businesses allow for reservations or flexible pickup/drop-off. Take a photo of these numbers for use later and have a safe holiday season!

Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii and White Fir Abies concolor are also popular choices for living Christmas trees. They are moderate to fast growers depending on elevation.

There is something very special about displaying a living Christmas tree that provides a tree for you to plant in your garden or in a container after the holidays. Living

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3000 Green Valley Road Cameron Park, CA 530.350.8903 www.bookhousecp.com continued from page 11

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Tossing peanut shells on the floor was encouraged and the kids loved it.

Live music drifted through the air on long Thursday-Monday weekends. “Big Al & The Honky Tonkers” drew a crowd, says Mike Arkus.

Shingle Springs resident Judy Ziesmer — who did a temporary, part-time stint as a cocktail waitress — recalls that Jim Snoke, a Business and Computer Science professor at American River College, played the banjo. She adds that her husband, Doug Ziesmer, worked with Eddie Smith in repairing the arcade machines.

The Arcade room was very popular. Early on, it was filled with favorite games like pin ball and Skee-Ball. And by the ‘80s it was a gamer’s paradise with every video and arcade game you could think of. The number of games was said to be “massive.” Judy Ziesmer noted “200.” She ought to know; her husband helped repair them.

When playing the games — practically for “peanuts,” aka 2 bits — “You could win coupons that gave you an opportunity to buy candy in the General Store,” notes Mike Arkus.

The Lillian Russell room, located to the right of the main area, “was a fine dining restaurant that offered chateaubriand. It was rolled in on a covered serving cart and prepared at the table,” Mike says.

True to the old-time classy establishments, there were paintings of nude ladies adorning the room’s walls — displayed within the bounds of good taste, of course.

Placerville resident Judy Onorato recalls, “We used to take our kids to Sam’s… there was a lot for the kids to do: games, candy store and much more.”

“When going into the elegant Lillian Russell room,” she adds,

“we’d tell our kids not to look at the pictures on the walls. The nude women were from the era of big boobs and big bottoms. The kids would look anyway and giggle the whole time.”

Sam’s also had a stage that featured bands, mostly country bands and honky tonk.

“One time,” Judy Onorato says, my step-daughter, just 10, got up on stage and sang with the band

Barbiana

Frank Vilt’s Cakes

Unlocked Fitness

‘Brothers’ Sewing & Vacuum

Placerville has many stories and characters that revolve around delivering the mail. Snowshoe Thompson is probably the most recognizable character locally, stepping into the wintery scene on his skis and hauling 60-pound bags of mail over the mountains to the snow-bound folks in Carson City and Genoa. When Thompson applied for this job, the Placerville Post Office was located at 248 Main Street. Since then, citizens have collected mail from post offices constructed all along Main Street.

But in 1940, Placerville received a state-of-the-art Federal Post Office at what is now 515 Main Street. The site, located at the corner of Main Street and Bedford Avenue, was originally called Stony Point. Clearing off all evidence of the saloons and stores that had occupied that corner, a great pit was dug. Rebar and concrete were poured to erect a solid, cubical 10,000-square