Community

Local scouts in Troop 614 marked an historic event in the pre-dawn hours of Feb 1 as a dozen young women were allowed to join the Boy Scouts of America for the first time and participated in a flag raising ceremony.

In December 1895, when weather permitted, promoter Fred Swanton and electrician Ed Lilly escorted a team of experts — sawmill men, flume builders, hydraulic engineers, and a surveyor — to the intended site of the water-powered electric plant on Big Creek.

Our old Boarding House in Aberdeen Washington had many bedrooms, two on its bottom floor and six located up a narrow stairway leading to a large landing.

Last week I was reading Next Door Neighborhood online and a ad caught my eye…’Free Lemons’, which reminded me this is the lemon season around our area and I just happen to be ready to make a new batch of lemon vodka marmalade, and, at the same time, why not make Jack Daniels Whiskey orange marmalade.

Fred Swanton embraced the role of promoter but left the technical side of the electrical business to his long-time associate, Ed Lilly. The entrepreneur was determined to realize his goal of damming the San Lorenzo for power. But, for once, the engineer believed that Swanton’s plan was not ambitious enough.

I love it when a nice reader takes the time to call me to suggest a topic they’d like to see me write about or remind them what needs to be done at a certain time of year. Take Helen, who lives in Spring Lakes in Scotts Valley, for instance. Helen told me she grows tomatoes in the summer and has 4 fruit trees including a satsuma plum, an espaliered apple and a tangerine. Helen battles peach leaf curl on her plum and coddling moth larvae inside her apples and would like to know exactly what to use and when to control these problems. So this column is for you, Helen.