Opinion

National Public Works Week is from May 21 to 27, so let’s take a look at what Public Works does here in Scotts Valley. We have around 20 staff members in Public Works who take care of wastewater, streets, parks, engineering and recreation services. Wastewater Did...

It's always a breathtaking experience taking a walk at this time of year. You might see the cobalt blue flowers of ceanothus or a stand of dicentra formosa with their dainty pink bell-shaped flowers backlit in the spring sunlight. Coral bells are in full...

In Santa Cruz County there are seven separate water agencies that serve our community, each with different sources of water, customer demographics and infrastructure ages. As a result, each agency has different needs and approaches to operations and, until recently, operated largely independently of...

Frustrated with Ferrellgas My husband and I are residents of Boulder Creek. We’ve been long-time Ferrellgas customers. Until this winter, we’d been very happy with their service. We maintained a significant positive credit balance “just in case,” and were on “automatic” tank refills.  Then something happened—Ferrellgas...

“If the first thing you do in the morning is eat a live frog, you can go through the rest of the day knowing the worst is behind you.” —Mark Twain The year was 1972 when a friend drove me to the small town of...

Wisteria are one of those vines that you either long for or lament ever having planted. They are all fragrant with a delicious sweet scent that varies from faint to strong to almost overpowering. Bees and hummingbirds love them. Here are some tips to...

Ever feel like you wish you had someone else’s body type? Is the body you want always just out of reach? Like no matter what you do, you’ll never quite be slim, strong or fit enough? If this is true, try to not be...

What fun it must have been for the children raised in the 1900s at Filoli Estate. You can just imagine what a kid could do on 654 acres of orchards, fields and gardens creating a maze of places to hide and seek. As gardeners,...

As someone who has held management and leadership positions for most of my career, I was intrigued to learn more about how working with horses can improve leadership skills in the workplace. I had the opportunity to meet Razelle Janice Drescher, owner of Intentional...

Having been raised by my elderly aunt who ran a boarding house for the workers at the nearby sawmill in the small town of Aberdeen, Wash., my younger days were spent primarily in the company of older people. Our house was the last house...