June 1, 2022
Liz Writes Life
Well, I have some news – don’t know if it is good or bad? I
have decided to end my newspaper column “Liz Writes Life”. Today will be my
last one.
It is time that I really focus on getting my photos organized
and re-writing different family history stories. I have been scanning photos --
100s of them – yet, find myself not naming, dating and organizing them in a
timely manner. I will be sorry, if I don’t do this.
I am realizing that not all the photos need to be digitalized
and that is actually my biggest problem – making decisions and sifting a lot
more out. Ugh! It is hard.
Besides shooting lots of family, scenic, rodeo and wedding
photos over the years, I have been taking photos for newspapers and a few
magazines since I began writing for the “Pioneer Press” back in 1976. Gary
Mortensen started that weekly newspaper on Nov. 16, 1972 in Fort Jones, CA. I
was attending Etna High School at the time.
Many rural news reporters didn’t have sidekicks of
photojournalists. Back then, I used a basic SLR camera and black and white
film. Gary had a dark room, processed the film and printed photos. Wow, things
have changed in the printing business! I even remember when he started using
computers. I hated the mouse! Remember, when it had a tail hooked to the
computer? Yep, I started out typing on a manual typewriter.
I think I began writing a “Garden Corner” in about 2000. The
“Pioneer Press” stopped publishing hardcopy news around 2007 or 2008. At that
time, the editor of the “Siskiyou Daily News” asked me and the other columnists
to write for the SDN. We did and the editor put our columns and other local
news articles in a section just for Scott Valley. Sometime along the way, (I
can’t remember when) my garden information morphed into “Liz Writes Life”. And,
typically, I never knew what I would be writing about until my deadline! Sure
do have a love-hate relationship with deadlines!
Garden
So, I will share my garden with you one last time. Because my
knees are so creaky and my energy is rare, the garden will be even smaller this
year. The drought has stunted many of the perennials in my wild flower garden
under the pine tree, but a do see a few old-fashioned purple iris blooming.
Grandson Bryce helped me dig four big holes for the Early
Girl tomato plants and they have been planted. Then we mixed steer manure in
the soil in a trench and planted cucumber and zucchini seeds. We left a few
hollyhocks that are growing, but need to be irrigated. The chocolate mint has
woken-up, because of irrigating and a Shasta daisy just started blooming.
While I was irrigating the four-foot-tall comfrey, I noticed
several bumble bees poking into the tiny pink bell blossoms gathering pollen.
Two weeks ago, I harvested one rhubarb plant. Probably got
about 40 pounds. Gave most away and made a batch of rhubarb-strawberry jam. The
other rhubarb is just as tall at over four-feet, but will harvest it this week.
Boy that horse manure sure makes it grow. Well, that and lots of water,
especially in this drought. The 20 garlic plants are 14 to 18 inches high, but
I have struggled keeping it irrigated and need to fertilize it again.
So, there is my garden report. Good luck with your flowers
and vegetables this summer.
Now for the
finish!
News writing: It has been quite a run. I have written hard
news, agricultural news, rodeo news, feature articles, local and regional news.
Oh, and lots of obituaries. I wasn’t much of a sports writer, though. Also,
sat-in and reported on the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors’ meetings over
the years. It seemed like there was always plenty going on that was newsworthy.
At least to me!
On the family historical aspect, which I have shared with you
at times, I will close mentioning that my parents Hearst Dillman and Jeanne
Fowler married on this day, June 1st in 1941. They met and lived here
in Scott Valley. First meeting was at a Callahan dance! Times were still hard
from the Great Depression in 1941, so they decided to make the wedding easy by driving
to Reno, Nevada -- in a borrowed car!
In the early 1990s, dad asked me to write-up his life. I
never up-dated the text program and it needs to be re-typed (and improved)
again. Yep, it was saved to what was truly a “floppy” disk that I no longer
have! My sister has written our mom’s life history.
My parents are buried in the Etna Cemetery along with dad’s
parents and siblings. Mom has about 20 Fowler family members in the Etna
Cemetery as well. My grandchildren and daughter-in-law helped me put out about
50 red, white and blue (fake) flowers on our relatives and some friends graves
last weekend in honor of Memorial Day. I have great respect for our soldiers
and veterans.
So, there is always plenty to do. I want to send best hopes
and wishes to you all. Thanks for reading me!
May peace and calm be with you in all ways. Smile – just cuz
it makes you feel better!
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in
newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County. Columns from the past
can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.
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