Can't add alert to iCal events after Mavericks upgrade

[Oldphart]

I just upgraded to Mavericks on two machines. No problems there, but..

on the new iCal, I am unable to add an alert. Of course I click on "Add alert, repeat or travel time" and the inspector window shows lines for the times and "repeat", "travel time", and "show as". There is a blank space between the last two items, where "alert" could be, but there is nothing there.

This is on a Google-synced calendar. On an Android phone, when I add an alert to an item (even one first entered on iCal), then the alert shows up in iCal, AND the date/time has a small clock icon beside it. Clicking on the clock icon brings up the event inspector detail which now shows the "alert" lines and one can add additional alerts. Why can't I get this when I try to enter an event straight into iCal? What am I missing?

 

[Oldphart]

Figured out problem, I think.

The Google calendars (5 of them) that I sync with show up in the list of calendars twice, one as Google Calendars (or whatever name one gives or the account email) and again as "Delegates". They are the same calendars and if the boxes are checked for both sets then all events are duplicated. So use one or the other. Prior to the Mavericks upgrade we used the only the "Delegates" list of calendars and the default calendar was one of those.

Apparently if you use the Delegates version of the calendar you get the behaviour that I described as the problem (no ability to add an alert). If you chose the Google Calendar version (selecting from that list for your default calendar) then the add alert works as expected. Why this should be , haven't a clue, but my problem is solved or worked around.