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Scotts Valley
October 11, 2025

The Heartbeat of Life

I was talking with a neighbor the other day, and I asked him how life was going. He replied, ‘Oh, you know, it’s like an EKG graph; up and down.”  This got me thinking about the heartbeat of life. It does consist of up and down phases. With Covid-19, social justice issues, and politics, this has been a challenging year. These stressors are on top of the other difficulties we are already experiencing in our own personal lives. Then came the fires, which pushed most all of us over the edge into emotional exhaustion. In the heartbeat of life, we are definitely experiencing a down phase on that EKG graph!

Sweet Peas Pay Big Dividends

 There is so much clean up to do around the garden in the fall but I think we should all do something fun. A couple years ago I got an email about when to plant sweet peas. This reader had collected seeds from the wild pea, lathyrus latifolia, and wanted to know when to plant them. Although the flowers of this perennial sweet pea are not fragrant, the culture is the same as all sweet peas. Now’s the time to plant.

Senior Moments

 Have you ever had any of these experiences?

How Strong Is Your Back?

         Healthy posture and proper form is a product of a strong back. A weak back is what can lead to problems with posture, form, and further health issues. Your back is divided into two parts: Upper and Lower. The upper back provides a foundation for the shoulder girdle and supports our head and neck. The lower back is primarily involved in lifting, carrying and supporting our upright posture. The muscles in your back help dictate how these limbs can function and how much protection surrounds your spine. Your spine is highly important to the functioning of your body and condition of your health. Having a strong back will help you with mobility, day to day movement, lifting, holding proper posture and even boost your confidence. When you have a stronger back, you walk more upright and hold your head high, showing confidence in your stride. Having a strong back also helps improve your quality of life. A strong lower back will help keep your hip flexors and core in good shape for functional movements or training. Your lower back will also play a huge role in supporting your posture and helping with daily tasks such as lifting, standing, sitting and squatting with proper form.

October

Now that the devastating CZU Lightning Complex fire is 100 percent contained and evacuation orders have been lifted, our County is shifting its focus swiftly toward recovery and resiliency. We do so with those who lost their homes at the top of our minds and in our hearts.

Addiction Recovery—A Journey Worth Celebrating

Every September the mental health and addiction recovery community comes together to celebrate the gains made by those in recovery—just like we do for people recovering from other health conditions and diseases. Recovery Month is about educating our communities that substance use treatment and mental health services can enable those with a mental and/or substance use disorder to live a healthy and rewarding life. 

Enjoy Fall in the Garden

Fall is a favorite season for many people. The heat of summer is just about over and our gardens can breathe a sigh of relief.

VITAMIN D

A vitamin is an organic substance essential in small quantities for normal metabolism. It is found naturally in various foods, but it can also be produced artificially. A lack of vitamins can produce certain diseases.

An old solution to housing shortage

Home-building has not kept up with job growth, causing a shortage of affordable housing. Possible solutions being pushed in the California state senate could pack cities like Scotts Valley with dense housing.

Man’s Best Friend

Dogs are amazing. They can do incredible things. Well maybe not my dog, Sherman, who is more likely to get into mischief than save mankind but we’ve all heard stories about detection dogs sniffing out drugs, explosives, cadavers and disaster survivors. In the mid 90’s, handlers started training them for conservation tasks such as sniffing out scat from endangered species and detecting trafficked ivory. Now their olfactory prowess is being used in the fight against invasive plants and insects. And this year dogs are being trained to sniff out Covid 19 odor with 82% accuracy. The list of how man’s best friend is helping us just keeps getting longer. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

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scotts valley police

Scotts Valley police promote pedestrian safety this month

October is National Pedestrian Safety Month, and Scotts Valley Police Department is urging drivers to exercise extra caution to protect pedestrians. According to the National...