Sheri Rathbun, our Valley Home School Parent Teacher Club president, shares the following news item with us this week. A special thank you to Michelle McKenzie for organizing our Scholastic Book Fair this past week as well as to all of the volunteers who made it a success. We have received word that the book selection was incredible and the students enjoyed starting the school year off with new books to read. Sheri invites you to join us for our August PTC meeting this Thursday, august 23rd at 3 p.m. at the Texas Ave. campus in Mr. C’s former classroom. We will be discussing upcoming events such as Harvest Festival and Red Ribbon Week.
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Mike and Nancy Osmundson enjoyed a nice visit this past week with Mike’s sister, Karen Dage and her husband, Nyal who were visiting here from their home in Iowa from August 9-17. The couple is from Independence, Iowa which has been suffering in the drought. They however, have gotten just enough rain in the nick of time to save their crops of corn and soybeans. The couple actually enjoyed our 105 degree weather because we don’t have the humidity that they have been dealing with.
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Oak Valley Art Society met at the Escalon Library on Saturday and discussed plans for their upcoming Fall Art Show to be held the third weekend in October at the Library. For those of us who enjoying painting it will be a busy weekend, in addition to our own Club’s show, we have been invited to visit and participate in a show being shown by members of Valley Art Association, which is being held in Riverbank. Sounds like a fun afternoon! OVAS members enjoyed a special demonstration on finding art treasures in unusual locations and hints on displaying them offered by Carol Earle with interesting remarks on various painting subjects offered by Club president, Glenn Burghardt.
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Michelle McKenzie shares the news that if you are looking for good reading material, The Escalon Friends of the Library currently has an ongoing used book sale continuing daily during regular library hours. 48 shelves of all genres, 25cents to $1.00 plus the “Buck a Bag” in the lobby.
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Halley Smith had a great 13th birthday surprise when she walked to school Aug. 13th. The Thompson girls decorated the road to school with birthday signs and balloons as well as delivering brownies and a bag of goodies! Thank you Thompson family. The Smiths also reported that they enjoyed an afternoon of bass fishing Saturday as they all caught their limit!
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Last week we asked the readers to mark their calendars for the Valley Home Community Park Maintenance Fundraiser. The board of directors have met and we now have more to report on this very important event. The fundraising event will be held on Saturday, September 22 at 5:30 p.m. at the Community Park.

The menu will be a marinated boneless chicken sandwich or a tri tip sandwich with pinto and kidney beans in addition to a pasta or potato salad. In addition, soft drinks or bottled water will be supplied. The meal can be eaten at the park or taken home. Valley Home’s own excellent caterer Mike Jerome of Jerome Family Catering will be providing the food as was done at the park dedication a little over a year ago.

It has been an exciting year for the new park but there have been problems to overcome and one is operational and repair costs so we sincerely hope that the park’s first fundraiser will be a success. More information in future columns.
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The Barreto’s just returned home from a two-day trip to Pismo Beach. It is reported that they enjoyed the cooler weather camping in their trailer on the beach with some family and friends. Tyler and Ashley enjoyed riding their quads in the sand and had a wonderful time. Ashley Barreto starts high school this week in Escalon. She is all excited.
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Beci Mullins reports that Cooper Bartholomew is excited to be going to school for the first time. Cooper is entering kindergarten and looking forward to meeting new friends and having great teachers !
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Our grandson, Jeff Burghardt celebrated his 25th birthday at the farm on Monday. Jeff was a baseball aficionado in Oakdale High School (pitching and playing) and is now involved in coaching a junior varsity team at a Modesto high school. His grandparents were able to find 10 baseball books of the past to add to his collection for his birthday. Happy Birthday Greetings to Jeff.