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Chateau Calistoga grapevine

Chateau Calistoga

Mobile Home Park

223 Champagne West

Calistoga, CA 94515

(707) 942-5101

Managers:

Shawn Smith – Park Manager

Lisa-Marie Smith – Office Manager

Kathy Noel – Office Assistant

Assistant Managers:

Silvia & Margarito Ramirez

Office Hours: 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Monday to Friday. (Holidays Excepted)

Please make rent checks out in the exact amount to “Chateau Calistoga Mobile Home Park”. Include space # on the memo line and return to the office along with the stub. Please turn the flap to the outside of the envelope to prevent sticking in damp weather.

2024-2025 CCHO Board:

President:

Molly Towey

Vice President: Steve Greenfield

Treasurer

Ph: (707) 320-3436

Ph: (408) 691-0123

Deborah Todd Ph: (707) 295-1255

Secretary Susan Thornton Ph: (707) 292-9012

All board members can be reached via email at ccho93c7@gmail.com

Grapevine Submissions:

All submissions must be in by the 5th of the month to be included in the following month’s issue of the Grapevine.

We welcome articles, recipes, news, stories, gossip! Send to ccho93c7@gmail.com

Email us to add your birthday or anniversary!

Editors: Brett & Eileen Zamora, Diane Kuykendall

CCHO President’s Message

Hello fellow residents of Chateau Calistoga –

Important Date-Put it on your calendars

Tuesday November 18, 2025 10am-12pm

Covid Vaccination and Flu Shot

No need to sign up - just show up at the Chateau Calistoga clubhouse on 11/18/2025 at 10am till 12pm

from Emma Diamond of UpValley Family Center

“I will be slowing down the frequency of workshops at Chateau to about once a quarter. So instead of highlighting the monthly workshop I thought I would send over information about our monthly Lunch and Learn event at the community center to remind everyone about it.

You are invited to Lunch and Learn! Lunch and Learn workshops in Calistoga are a collaboration between UpValley Family Centers, the City of Calistoga Parks & Recreation, and Rianda House. Monthly meetings include an educational activity, a healthy lunch, and information about resources for older adults in Napa County. Lunch and Learns are held on the third Wednesday of the month from 11 am –1 pm at the Calistoga Community Center, 1307 Washington Street. Please RSVP by calling or emailing Amanda Cole, Rianda House Program Director at (707) 963-8555 ext. 104 or amanda@riandahouse.org at least one day prior. Contact Emma Diamond, Senior Services Case Manager, (707) 965-5010 ext. 307 or by email ediamond@upvalleyfamilycenters.org with any questions.”

Emma Diamond also wants to remind our Chateau Calistoga residents that UpValley Family Centers also has free legal services available!

UpValley Family Centers is excited to share that an attorney from Legal Services of Northern California will be on site at our new office location, 913 Washington Street, every third Monday of the month from 9 am – 1 pm. Legal Services of Northern California provides free legal help to individuals age 60+ on a variety of civil legal issues, including, but not limited to:

• Debt and consumer rights (debt collection, identity theft, scams, etc.)

• Financial and physical elder abuse

• General estate planning (Advance Healthcare Directives, Powers of Attorney, wills and more)

• Healthcare (Medicare, Medi-Cal, eligibility, access, and medical bills)- Housing law (Landlord/tenant disputes, eviction defense, reasonable accommodations, and more)

• Pensions and retirement issues

• Public benefits (Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, food stamps, and more)

Appointments are available 9 am – 1 pm every third Monday of the month.

Contact (707) 515-4124 with questions or to reserve a slot.

CCHO President’s Message (Continued)

By the time you are reading this Grapevine October will be here...

A little bit of the history on the month of October - October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus c. 750 BC, October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ôctō meaning "eight") after January and February were inserted into the calendar that had originally been created by the Romans.

October is commonly associated with the season of autumn in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and spring in parts of the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the seasonal equivalent to April in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.

October's birthstones are the tourmaline and opal. Its birth flower is the calendula. The zodiac signs are Libra (until October 22) and Scorpio (from October 23 onward)

(Wikipedia and Google is where I find all this information)

Thank you to all of Chateau Calistoga that have already voluntarily given dues. We should have a sheet on the clubhouse bulletin board showing where all the dues are going, by the time you are reading this.

If any residents have an idea, and it costs money, and will serve all the residents of Chateau Calistoga just put a note in the yellow box at the clubhouse or email your idea to ccho93c7@gmail.com

If you have any ideas or thoughts for our beloved park, Chateau Calistoga, please email me at ccho93c7@gmail.com, or call me at 707.320.3436

Remember we look out for and take care of each other!

We Are Better Together

Sincerely,

Molly

Important: I hope all the residents know that the current board is happy to stay on for one more term. Though often enjoyable, there is a lot more work than I was personally prepared for; it is very satisfying when I see things work out for the residents.

Thank you as always for being on this journey with your CCHO Board Members.

Sincerely

Molly, Steve, Deborah and Susan

Dear Residents,

Park Manager’s Corner

We are excited to share a few updates and reminders with all of you!

Community Improvements:

• The billiard room has received fresh paint, a new wall-mounted TV, a brand-new pool cue rack, and gently used furnishings to make the space more welcoming.

• All fitness equipment has been serviced and/or had parts replaced, with the exception of one unit still awaiting parts.

• The hallways and main clubhouse area have been freshly painted, giving our shared spaces a bright new look.

• New exterior runner rugs have been placed at the Spa and exterior shower areas for safety and comfort.

Pet Reminders:

• Dogs must be 15 inches or smaller at the shoulder once fully matured.

• All pets must remain within your lot and on a leash when outside the home. Cats, just like dogs, must be kept indoors or on a leash.

• Pets must be under immediate supervision and personally attended to at all times when outside the home.

• Animals are expected to be well-behaved and not create disturbances such as barking, growling, digging holes, or other disruptive behavior.

• Please also be mindful of items left outdoors that may attract rodents or wildlife into our community.

Upcoming Projects:

• New fencing and a secured gate for the RV Storage area.

• Poolside furniture updates.

• A refreshed look and updates in the laundry area.

Community Events:

We have several fun activities underway, including pool table tournaments, poker nights, open mic night, bunco, and more! Sign-up sheets are available in the clubhouse, and event dates/times will be added to the community calendar soon.

Thank you for helping us keep Chateau Calistoga a safe, enjoyable, and beautiful place to call home.

Warmly,

Chateau

Calistoga Management Team

Announcements

New Activities on the Calendar

We have lots of new events on the Calendar, including a Book Club, Pool Table Night, Poker Night, and an Open-Mic Night. Check out the Calendar page for dates and times of the new events. There have been several nice renovations to our clubhouse so let’s get out and start enjoying the wonderful space!

Friendly Reminder

Remember, when walking pets, they must remain on a leash. Please do not let them roam around and leave their presents on other resident’s property. Also remember, per park rules, that pets are not allowed on the greenbelt. Thank you!!

Have an announcement, story, photo, poem, or other tidbit, you’d like published? Please send an email to ccho93c7@gmail.com. Articles must be submitted by the 5th of the month in order to be included in the following month’s Grapevine.

Chateau Calistoga Sharing Table

By Linda Moran and Janice Fons

The Sharing Table has a new location in the right front corner of the Exercise Room as well as two new helpers, Linda Moran and Janice Fons , to monitor the items shared by Chateau Calistoga Park residents. We will do our best to keep the tables attractive and to bring order to this area so that we will be able to continue to share a little fun, with an environmentally responsible exchange of goods, as well as providing goods to those who don’t wish to drive out of town or who are limited in other resources.

Please try to keep oﬀerings to one grocery bag a week as the space is limited. Community regulations stipulate no donations of underwear, bedding or electronics. Items should be clean and in good condition, donate only what you would feel comfortable giving to a friend.

Linda and Janice welcome your suggestions as well as seeing us from time to time while you look for an unexpected treasure. Have FUN!

• Birthday Potluck open to all Chateau residents. Please bring something to share. • All events in Clubhouse unless otherwise noted.

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Everyone is invited to the monthly Birthday Potluck at the Clubhouse on Monday, October 13th at noon. Bring a dish!

October Birthdays:

2: Charles D’Ombrain

5: Lin Barrios

7: Brigitta Wiederhold

10: Debbie Joseph

11: Dianna Crug

15: David Deem

20: Martin Griffith

21: George Sullivan

22: Kris Augello

24: Jenele Saunders

25: Ellen Patterson

25: Debra Dawson

27: Margarito Ramirez

28: Carmen Barsody

October Anniversaries:

14: Cebreena & Mike Oliver

23: Dianna & Bob Crug

If we have missed your birthday/anniversary and you would like it added please email ccho93c7@gmail.com

Larry Vuckovich All-Star Quartet at the Brannan Center!

Chateau’s Larry Vuckovich and his band will be playing a concert at Calistoga’s new Brannan Center on October 19th . See their website (https://www.brannancenter.org/) to purchase tickets.

Pianist/bandleader Larry Vuckovich gained recognition as being about the most versatile in the field of jazz. His playing, along with his ensemble presentations, is something quite unique on the jazz scene today. His repertoire is basically unmatched, containing wideranging diverse jazz styles including swinging jazz/bebop, Afro-Cuban, Latin salsa, Brazilian classics, funky blues and boogaloo sounds. It also includes World Music, with selections including sounds from the Balkans, North Africa, Middle East, also tango jazz and flamenco jazz and more. His concerts take the audience on a musical journey satisfying many different tastes.

Featured Musicians: Larry Vuckovich (piano/vocals), Kai Lyons (guitar/vocals), Doug Miller (bass), Hector Lugo (Latin percussion/featured vocalist)

The Larry Vuckovich All-Star Quartet will perform wide-ranging material including swinging jazz/bebop, Afro-Cuban Latin jazz, World Music selection or two - presenting the music from the Balkans – Gypsy Roma influence, also Cuban/African pieces featuring powerful Puerto Rican vocalist/percussionist Hector Lugo singing authentically exciting historic Latin/South American music selections.

Why You Always Wake Up at 3 A.M. – and How to Stop

This article was written by Bennett Kleiman and published on the public website “BetterReport”. Source link: https://betterreport.com/sleep-cortisol-facts/

There’s nothing like crawling into bed at the end of a long day to get some well-deserved zzz’s. But what happens when, hours later, when you still can’t fall asleep? Whether you find yourself tossing and turning at odd hours of the night or helplessly lying wide awake at 3 a.m., poor sleep patterns are an issue for many people. While there isn’t a one-sizefits-all reason why many of us wake up in the middle of the night, the stress hormone cortisol is a significant contributor.

How Cortisol Levels Affect Sleep

Cortisol is critical for regulating bodily functions, increasing metabolism, and controlling blood pressure. It also serves as the body’s internal alarm clock, telling you when to wake up and wind down. During the night, the body produces cortisol about two to three hours after sleep onset, reaching peak levels at the nine-hour mark.

However, when people suffer from stress and anxiety throughout the day, cortisol levels have already spiked before bedtime. Your cortisol will peak long before the nine-hour mark, prematurely signaling to the brain that it’s time to wake up. The exact timing depends on each sleep schedule, but if you fall asleep at midnight, you will wake up around 3 a.m. when the body starts producing new cortisol to supplement your high cortisol levels.

How to Reset Your Sleep Patterns

Thankfully, there are ways to lower your stress level to help prevent you from waking up in the middle of the night. One of the simplest ways is taking two short walks each day one shortly after waking up and the other around sunset. Beginning the day with a light 20- or 30-minute walk helps lower the cortisol levels built up during the night while taking one after a busy day helps you calm down and reset your stress levels.

Scheduling two separate 10-minute meditation or relaxation sessions each day may also be what you need to keep your cortisol levels down before bedtime. Find an activity that puts you at ease, such as yoga, knitting, or sitting quietly. This time helps regulate the body’s cortisol levels, preventing them from reaching levels that may affect your sleep schedule later.

Submitted By: Cyndi Jung

Calistoga Happy Hours

Calistoga Inn - M-F, 4-6pm, Bar Only

Elusa - (400 Silverado Trail) 4-7pm, Fridays

Fleetwood - M-F, 4-6pm, Locals Night every Wednesday 5-9pm

House of Better - M-F, 2-5pm

Hydro – M-F, 3-6pm

Johnny’s – 4-6pm every day

Lovina – Locals special: 5-9pm at the bar, 50% off all wines plus one comp appetizer every night

Pacifico – M-F, 4-6:30 pm

Palisades – 4-6pm every day

Susie’s – 4-6pm every day: $3 well drinks, $6 wine, discounted beers

Truss – “Golden Hour”: M-Th, 3-6pm, 3-5pm small bites

Shared By: Rose LeClerc

Thank you to all the First Responders that help keep our community safe!!

CalFire working hard to protect Calistoga

Submiued By: Breu Zamora

Poet’s Corner

How You Breathe When You Read

Poetry is often more about the rhythm than the rhyme. It’s so hard to define poetry because it isn’t just one thing or another, and it isn’t only about the line breaks or the form. It can be as simple as a few words exhaled in just the right order and there you are in the moment with the poet. It has been said that one reason we like poetry (if we do like it) is that we hear in the words of another person exactly what we are feeling. It reminds us that we aren’t alone in our unique experiences of love or loss or joy or wonder. What a miracle that is, isn’t it? To find that someone who live d a few hundred years ago and tens of thousands of miles away could say something that feels so present to us today.

Here is Haiku by Master Matsuo Basho (1644-1694). It is in the Haiku form, but what always draws me in is not the form it takes on the page this is how it is ordinarily printed.

Sitting peacefully, doing nothing Spring comes And grass grows by itself

But it can also be heard differently. After you read it as it’s written above, try reading it this way:

Sitting peacefully

Doing nothing, spring comes And grass grows by itself

In the one, the poet is meditating, sitting peacefully and spring arrives. In the other, spring does nothing, it arrives, and the grass grows by itself. How you breathe as you read this poem (either aloud or to yourself) will place the doing of nothing such that greater quiet rests within the quiet coming of spring or in the within the meditating heart of the poet.

Submitted By: Sam Dennison

Submitted

By:

Deborah Todd

The Greatest Tomato Sandwich

WOODLAND, CA — Good grief! Any kid who grew up in Woodland during the war years knew exactly how to make a tomato sandwich and it started with two slices of good old-fashioned soft white bread. The kind that doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

Each slice was lathered thick with homemade mayonnaise — the kind your mom whipped up herself. You’d slap the slices together, wrap the sandwich in wax paper or an old bread wrapper, then stuff it in your shirt pocket, where it could soak up the heat and moisture just right.

You’d toss in a little salt and pepper wrapped in paper, then hoof it or run to school, just in time to board the flatbed trucks waiting to haul you out to the tomato fields.

We’d ride out to the rows of big, red beefsteak tomatoes, get down on our hands and knees, and fill galvanized buckets with tomatoes until they were brimming. Then, bucket by bucket, we’d lug them to the end of the row and gently empty them into wooden lug boxes. Then back again, over and over, until the truck horn blew the lunch signal.

When that horn sounded, it was a mad dash for the shade of the nearest trees, a race to get out of the 105-degree sun. You’d drop your sandwich down to claim your spot, then head back to the tomato rows to find the biggest, firmest beefsteak tomato you could.

Page 1 of 2

If you didn’t have your own, you’d borrow a buddy’s pocket knife, slice open that tomato (still dusted with a bit of green powder), and carefully peel apart your soggy mayo-laden bread. Lay your slice just how you like it. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper, squish the whole mess together and devour it.

Don’t worry about the tomato juice and mayo oozing down your hands. They were already filthy anyway. And that, my friends, is how a 7th or 8th grader made a proper tomato sandwich.

For dessert? Take the leftover tomato, sprinkle it with the remaining salt and pepper, and eat around the core saving it just long enough to chuck it at an unsuspecting classmate. That usually started one hell of a tomato fight until the adult field hands came running, yelling at us in Spanish to knock it off.

At the end of the day, they’d count up the number of lug boxes each kid filled. Then we’d pile back onto the flatbed and head into town carefully sneaking a few good throwing tomatoes in case the Dingle School trucks got close to our Beamer School trucks. Turf wars.

We did this twice a week in September and October. At the end of each week, we earned 10 cents in war stamps for every box we filled. That went into our stamp books, working toward an $18.75 war bond. Most kids averaged six boxes a day not bad compared to the braceros, who could do 100 to 140 boxes. But then again, they didn’t screw around quite as much as we did.

That’s how we helped with the war effort one tomato sandwich and one stamp at a time. Multiply that by 400 kids, and you’ve got a serious workforce that wasn’t otherwise available.

Oh about that green powder on the tomatoes? We later learned it was either insecticide or fertilizer, dropped from Wegger’s crop-dusting plane. And our drinking water? Straight from the well. Everything sprayed on those fields eventually seeped into the water table.

Now, more than 80 years later, it’s hard not to notice that many of my classmates suffer from heart issues and cancer. Still, those tomato sandwiches? They were amazing.

End of my story, Grasshopper.

~ Bob Kuhn

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Latin Lingo Dutch Brush Master

ALMA MATER

CARPE DIEM

CAVEAT EMPTOR

DE FACTO

E.G.

ET CETERA

ET TU BRUTE

EX NIHILO

IN MEDIAS RES IN VINO VERITAS

IPSO FACTO MAGNUM OPUS

NON SEQUITUR

PER CAPITA

PER SE

POST MORTEM

PRIMA FACIE

PRO BONO

QUID PRO QUO

STATUS QUO

Across

1. Shaggy Scandinavian rug

4. Colgate rival

9. Common Market inits.

10. Sled dog

11. “Casablanca” pianist

12. Ms. Williams in aquamusicals

13. Ancient rival of Athens

15. First word of the Constitution

16. Aleppo’s land

18. Word in a simile

20. Quantum theory pioneer Max

23. Wet lowland

25. “Smoking or ___?”

26. Gauchos’ weapons

27. Big deal

28. Doesn’t ignore

29. Tennis match part

Down

1. Remainder

2. “Awright!”

3. High points

4. Dark

5. “From ___ with Love”

6. “C’___ la vie!”

7. Bias

8. Phoenician trading center

14. Action on the side

17. Kournikova and Karenina

18. Court order against antisocial behaviour

19. Mop up, naut.

21. The “C” in U.P.C.

22. Masseur’s target

24. Bass, e.g.

The headline is a clue to the answer in the diagonal.

October Sudoku

How to solve sudoku puzzles

No math is required to solve a sudoku. You only need logic and patience.

Simply make sure that each 3x3 square region has only one instance of the numbers 1-9. Similarly, each number can only

appear once in a column or row in the larger grid. The difficulty on this puzzle is easy.

TRIVIA TEASER

T Time

1. What company is represented on the New York Stock Exchange ticker by the letter T? a-Target, b-Radio Shack, c-AT&T, d-Kodak.

2. Who played the title character on the TV cop show "T.J. Hooker"? a-Jack Lord, b-William Shatner, c-Erik Estrada, d-Burt Reynolds.

3. In what city could you ride the commuter rail service known as the T? a-San Francisco, b-San Antonio, c-Boston, dMiami.

4. What is the middle name of Captain James T. Kirk on "Star Trek"? a-Taylor, b-Thomas, c-Timothy, d-Tiberius.

5. In what country would you find the headquarters for the T-Mobile telecommunications service? a-Germany, b-Norway, c-Canada, d-South Korea.

6. White blood cells known as T-cells get their name because they mature in what part of the human body? a-Teeth, b-Thalamus, c-Thymus, d-Tegument.

7. One way of investing your money is with the purchase of T-bills. What does the T in T-bill stand for? a-Tax, b-Tangible, c-Transaction, d-Treasury.

8. What 1962 instrumental hit with an edible title was the highest-ranking song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart by Booker T. and the MGs? a-"Bread and Butter," b-"Cotton Candy," c-"Green Onions," d-"Sugar and Spice."

9. T-Bag was the nickname of a villain played by Robert Knepper on what Fox TV drama series? a-"Oz," b-"24," c-"Touch," d-"Prison Break."

10. What did the T stand for in the names of T.E. Lawrence and T.S. Eliot? aThomas, b-Theodore, c-Tyler, d-Terrell.

QUOTES

Riches don't make a man rich, they only make him busier. Christopher Columbus, discoverer of America in 1492.

By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination. Christopher Columbus, discovered the new world in 1492

Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.

George Addair, Founder of the Omega Vector, a self knowledge program

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

Francis Bacon: English philosopher, statesman, scientist and author

When you forgive, you in no way change the past -- but you sure do change the future.

Bernard Meltzer, radio host of "What's Your Problem" in Philadelphia

He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.

Lao Tzu: philosopher of ancient China

You have a clean slate every day you wake up. You have a chance every single morning to make that change and be the person you want to be. You just have to decide to do it. Decide today's the day. Say it: this is going to be my day.

Brendon Burchard, author, of The Millionaire Messenger.

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, but a thing to be achieved.

William Jennings Bryan: American politician from the 1890s

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

Edward Everett Hale, editor and author of 60 books

The Lighter Side

Leather

When a woman wears leather clothing, a man's heart beats faster. His throat gets dry. He gets weak in the knees and begins to think irrationally.

Ever wonder why?

She smells like a new truck!

Old man

He was eating lunch at a truck stop when three bikers walked in. The first pushed his cigarette into the old man's pie, then took a seat at the counter.

The second spit in the old man's milk, then took a seat at the counter. The third turned his plate over and then took a seat at the counter.

The old man left without a word. One of the bikers said to the waitress, "Humph, not much of a man is he?"

The waitress replied: "Not much of a truck driver either. He just backed his truck over three motorcycles."