August 28, 2018
Liz Writes Life
Once again, I send a huge “thank you” to friends for their
condolences regarding the passing of my husband, Jack, on Aug. 14, 2018. He had
many friends and recently visited with some of them at the fair or in town. I
have written his obituary, but need to check a few facts with his sister. So,
it will be finished within a day or two, hopefully, and then sent to Editor
Skye for publication.
Jack did not want a church service, so we will hold a
Celebration of Jack’s Life on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018 at the Etna City Park. Time
is noon. It is a potluck, if you would like to bring just one dish that will be
great as Grill Master Dave Tyler has volunteered to barbecue beef ribs.
Garden
Aphids have attacked one of the lemon cucumber plants. All
three are pumping out a lot of cucs, but the middle plant has leaves that are
nearly black with aphids. Don’t know how to stop them at this stage of the
garden. If you have any ideas, give me a call! I did throw a bunch of four-year
old coffee grounds on them hoping to chase the ants away.
The zucchini is slowly producing, which is actually very nice
and the tomatoes are starting to ripen. Oh, the rhubarb has grown back. It
isn’t as thick, but the newer plant has some huge stems and leaves. Folks are
asking me what I do to make it grow so large? I don’t really know, except I
give it huge amounts of water – about three times as much as the rest of the
garden plants. In a couple of weeks I will harvest the bigger stems, but I will
only take 10 to 20 percent of the plant this time.
POW
The Scott Valley Protect Our Water meetings are back on
schedule. The next one will be held this Thurs., Aug. 30th at the
Fort Jones Community Center. Time is 7 p.m. Erin Ryan, from Congressman
LaMalfa’s office, and Siskiyou Co. Dist. 5 Supervisor and board chairman, Ray
Haupt, have lots of info to share.
Comment
Gotta say I was shocked by the
sub-headline, last week, claiming 28,000 animals have been killed in Siskiyou
Co. during the last eight years. I don’t know what is going on with the
wildlife management services contract and the county, but I greatly question
any information from the Center for Biological Diversity, which is based in
Arizona. Yep, I just don’t like their obstructionist bias. I am withholding
judgment on the issue, until we hear from the county.
Demorest’s
I was going through storage tubs and
came across 130 year-old magazines that were originally owned by the Hovenden
family. Dick and June Sweezey purchased the ranch from my Uncle Charlie
Hovenden and family in the 1960s and it is now known as Rancho del Sol. The
magazines are called Demorest’s. It was published by W. Jennings Demorest, in
New York City, beginning in the 1860s. Demorest’s wife, Ellen Louise, was a
U.S. fashion arbiter, who invented mass-produced tissue-paper dressmaking
patterns. The couple was quite successful with their magazine businesses,
cosmetics and fashion lines. Ellen made French dress styles accessible to
ordinary women, which greatly influenced U.S. fashion.
So, I began thumbing through one of
the monthly magazines. It is dated February 1888. It cost 20 cents and has an
editorial font type that is extremely small. I notice that magazines nowadays
are going back to the tiny or thin font type. I don’t like it as my eyesight is
not as good as it used to be – but I haven’t brought out the magnifying glass
yet!
There is a large fashion section with
illustrations of dresses. Boy, I am glad I never had to wear corsets or crazy
hats! I love my jeans and was born in the right century! There is a beautiful lightly-colored
full-page picture of a young adult girl and illustrations throughout to go with
a variety of stories. In fact, Demorest’s touts that it is an illustrated
magazine. The table of contents lists specific stories and departments of Home
Art and Home Comfort, The World’s Progress, Household, Sanitarian, the editor’s
recent train trip to “California and the Far West” (love that one) and an
entire section on prohibition. It looks like he used his magazine to influence
women on the evils of alcohol. One article is titled: The War on the Saloon. I
haven’t read it yet.
But, I did squint and read some of “What
Women are Doing” and these items are choice. Of course, Annie Oakley’s name, in
bold type, caught my eye. The paragraph states “… the little sure-shot of the ‘Wild
West,’ is very proud of the letter written her by the Princess of Wales, and
the gold medal given her by the London Gun Club. On the latter she has had
engraved the Prince of Wales’s words: ‘I don’t know any one who deserves it
more than you do.’” Now that is a bit of
fun.
The section “The World’s Progress”
includes arts, sciences and literature. The first paragraph was entitled, “Centennial
of the Inauguration of Washington.” It reads: The Centennial Anniversary of the
Inauguration of General George Washington as the first President of the United
States is to be celebrated in New York on April 30, 1889. Prominent citizens of
the metropolis have already commenced to make preparations for the event. A committee
composed of representatives of the historical societies and the descendants of
the old Revolutionary families has already been formed, and great interest is
shown by the members.”
I just love reading these historical
notes. Another is about a new torpedo boat that was invented and expected to “revolutionize
fighting, and prove a powerful protection to cities and harbors from hostile
attacks.”
Another item titled “Commercial Union”
discussed a controversial commercial union with Canada. One side of the issue
claimed there would be great benefits to the people of the U.S. and the
opposition believed that great injury will be done to a large number of
industries. As of today, Aug. 27, 2018, it looks like the U.S. has made a new
trade deal with Canada; and the stock market was up.
Personally, I remember being greatly
opposed to NAFTA that President Clinton signed in the 1990s. Guess pro and con
opinions about international commercial business haven’t changed much in 130
years.
There were rumors of war in Europe with
Austria asking Germany to help invade Russia and the Czar allegedly thumbing
his nose as his neighbors. Germany secured control of the Samoan Islands. China
was hit with calamity as the Yellow River broke its banks (once again) destroying
10 large cities resulting in the loss of millions of human lives.
Also, Frank Cushman, of Zuni fame,
discovered a buried prehistoric city 80 miles northwest of Tucson, AZ.
Underground vaults with skeletons, clay pots, wheat and barley were found.
Cushman found evidence of an irrigation canal running through the city and
opined the city’s population could have been at least 25,000. Well, that’s all
for today. Have a good week!
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and
farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County
and lives near Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515. Check out her blog at:
LizWritesLife.blogspot.com
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