Sage has long been used to sooth scratchy and irritated throats. Photo/Melinda Myers LLC

By Melinda Myers

Busy schedules, over indulging, and strenuous summer activities can lead to sore muscles, indigestion and headaches. When searching for pain relief, look no further than your own garden or your local farmer’s market. These five foods fresh from the garden – or pot – are packed with super pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory power.

Mint

Infuse mint into your tea or ice water to refresh and rejuvenate, so you’re ready for more summer fun. Mint also helps relieve headaches and general aches and pain. Grow this vigorous perennial herb in a container so it won’t overtake your other plants.  Then at the end of the season, root a few cuttings to start new plants to grow indoors. All you need is a sunny window, quality potting mix and regular watering.

Hot peppers

Capsaicin, the spicy element in chili, jalapeno, habanero and cayenne peppers, is a great pain-fighting tool and is often used in topical creams to help treat backaches, arthritis and muscle pain. Hot peppers are ready to harvest when they are fully colored. Ask friends to share their harvest or purchase hot peppers at your local farmer’s market if your garden is lacking this plant. Be sure to purchase extra hot peppers to dry and enjoy year-round. Then add these tasty and pain-relieving plants to your garden next summer. Plant them after the soil and air warm, at the same time you plant sweet peppers and tomatoes.

Cherries

Manage muscle pain and inflammation with sour cherries. They are loaded with disease fighting chemicals and antioxidants. Plus, they help fight inflammation and relieve pain. Purchase plenty of cherries to juice, dry and preserve so you can enjoy their health benefits all year long. And consider planting a sour cherry tree in your backyard. Montmorency is the most popular sour cherry tree, needing only 700 hours of air temperatures between 34 and 45 degrees to initiate flowering for fruit development.  New hardier dwarf introductions from the University of Saskatchewan can be grown in colder regions including zone 2. Although it takes several years for cherry plants to start producing fruit, you’ll enjoy watching your tree grow into maturity and bear its first crop. Just make sure to cover the plants with netting so the birds don’t eat your harvest.

Ginger

Grow ginger in a pot outdoors or sunny window along side your other indoor plants. Ginger helps reduce inflammation and combat migraines, muscle pain, arthritis and post workout or post-gardening soreness. All this and it helps fight nausea so common during a summer filled with barbecues and celebrations. Although it’s a tropical plant, you can find plants or rhizomes (the part you eat) online. Or join other enthusiastic gardeners who have had success rooting the rhizomes they have purchased at the grocery store to start new plants.

Sage

Harvest a few sage leaves, add hot water and brew a bit of sore throat relief. Sage tea has long been used to sooth scratchy and irritated throats and showed positive results in a 2006 clinical trial. Grow this herb in the garden or container. It thrives in a sunny spot with well-drained soil. Harvest leaves as needed throughout the season. Regular harvesting encourages more growth for future harvests. You can remove as much as one third of the plant at one time for preserving.

So next time you’re feeling a bit of pain, look to the garden for a bit of relief. Even the simple act of tending your garden and harvesting produce can elevate your mood, lower your blood pressure and start you on the road to feeling better.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including “Small Space Gardening.” She hosts the Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally syndicated “Melinda’s Garden Moment” TV and radio segments.

By Ally Gravina, Moonshine Ink

Over the course of two summers in the late 1960s, a chunk of the Haight Ashbury psychedelic rock scene was picked up and dropped off in Kings Beach at the building we now know as the North Tahoe Event Center.

A converted bowling alley with 10-foot ceilings, the building was then a concert venue called Kings Beach Bowl that hosted the likes of Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company, Neil Young with Buffalo Springfield, Country Joe and the Fish, and the Grateful Dead — to name a few.

Seating 500 people, the building located next to the lake in the center of Kings Beach was owned and operated by Dave Jay and Allen Goodall.

Read the whole story

The Nevada Department of Public Safety, Sex Offender Registry has received reports of a potential scam in an effort to collect money from registered sex offenders.

Calls are being made to offenders informing them they are non-compliant with their registration requirements, that a warrant has been issued for their arrest and that the offender must pay a fine in order to be compliant.

Sex offenders are required by law to register in Nevada and failure to comply is a felony offense; however, the Nevada DPS and local law enforcement do not collect money from sex offenders for registration or for warrants issued.

What to do if a suspected scam phone call is received:

•           Do not give out personal or work information

•           Do not arrange to meet with the caller

•           Do not make a payment to the caller

•           Immediately report the call to local law enforcement

•           Contact the Sex Offender Registry for compliance status at 775.684.6262.

The 2018 Honda Fit Sport is economical and sporty. Photos/Larry Weitzman

By Larry Weitzman

When I first tested the Honda Fit almost 10 years ago, I found it to be a fantastic piece of transportation offering incredible utility in a subcompact size, with great ride and handling plus remarkable fuel economy. It was a perfect example of why hybrids don’t make economic sense as the Fit returned near hybrid fuel economy with better performance. Oh, all at a price well below $20 large

In a conversation with Honda product planners I remarked that a bit more performance would make the Fit a perfect car for so many drivers. Now with the new generation which was introduced in 2014, there is a more performance in an almost identically sized package that still returns hybrid like fuel economy. In a 65-mile trip from South Lake Tahoe to Placerville, the Fit averaged 52 mpg. Overall it returned 43.2 mpg in a 200-mile round trip between Placerville to Carson City.

Since my tester was a six-speed manual transmission, engine speed at 70 mph was a rather high 3,250 rpm and may have hurt highway fuel economy which “only” averaged 42 mpg, which is about 10 percent less than your average hybrid. Incidentally, the EPA fuel economy numbers are 29/36/31 mpg city/highway/combined. My Fit never returned less than 34.5 mpg and that was during my 50 miles of performance testing. If there is a negative, it’s the small 10.6-gallon fuel tank, bigger would be better.

Fit is cute. Its body is sleeker and significantly more interesting than Gen one and two. Its size and dimensions are virtually similar to the previous generations as most every dimension is within an inch or 2 from the prior generations which is a good thing as the trend has been to grow among all classes. Even the Mini Cooper has grown a half a foot or more. Fit Sport’s length is a diminutive 162 inches with a 100-inch wheelbase. Your average compact car is 180-inches long. Width is narrow at 67 inches and it stands five feet tall. Yet total interior volume is 112 cubic feet or that of an average mid-size sedan. How’s that for packaging?

Specifications
Price $18,300
Engine
1.5L DOHC 16 valve inline four 130 hp @ 6,600 rpm
114 lbs.-ft. of torque @ 4,800 rpm
Transmissions
Six-speed manual
CVT automatic
Configuration
Transverse mounted front engine/front wheel drive
Dimensions
Wheelbase 99.6 inches
Length 161.8 inches
Width 67.0 inches
Height 60.0 inches
Track (f/r) 58.1/57.7 inches
Weight 2,553 pounds
Weight distribution (f/r) 62/38 percent
Fuel capacity 10.6 gallons
Passenger volume 95.7 cubic feet
Cargo volume 16.6 cubic feet
Steering lock to lock 2.51 turns
Turning circle 35.07 feet
Wheels 16 x 6.5-inch alloys
Tries 185/55 x 16 H (good for 130 mph continuous for 24 hours) rated all season radials
Performance
0-60 mph 7.90 seconds
50-70 mph 4.92 seconds
50-70 mph uphill 7.92 seconds
Top speed easily into triple digits
Fuel economy 29/36/31 mpg city/highway/combined, but expect much better 37 mpg overall and 42 mpg on the highway at legal speeds.

Under the hood is Honda’s familiar 1.5L DOHC 16 valve inline four-cylinder engine, but now pumping out 130 hp at 6,600 rpm and 114 pounds of twist 4,600 rpm, an increase of 20 percent over the first gen and 10 percent over the second gen, although the engine size is identical. The performance is now quite sporty with a significant improve as the numbers indicate. Zero to 60 now arrives in 7.90 seconds and a sprint from 50-70 mph happens in 4.92 seconds and the same sprint up a 6-7 percent grade only slows that time by three seconds to 7.92 seconds. Gen two times were 9.59, 6.08 and 12.15 seconds, so you can quantify the Fit’s new and really improved performance without any real loss in fuel economy. Kudos to Honda.

While good looking 16-inch alloys are standard in the Sport, the tires are not exactly meaty at 185/55 series rubber, 195 or 205 series would be even more fun. Track is wide at 58 inches and the electric power steering rack is just 2.51 turns lock to lock. Even weight is just 2,553 pounds. Handling is strong with good feedback and tenacious grip. Cornering speeds were remarkably high with a real sports car like feel with crisp turn-in and accurate on and off-center steering.

Honda Fit is a good example of a smooth and quiet small car. The ride is taut but quite compliant as it admirably absorbs bumps.

Safety has all the basic acronyms including ABS, EBD and VSA (stability assist traction control). It also had an excellent rear back-up camera and display. But there is no blind spot detection or lane keep assist. No big deal. Headlights are halogens and are excellent in low and high beam. Front ventilated disc brakes are very strong.

Inside is an upgraded interior with comfortable manual seats, a huge rear seat with monstrous legroom and a lift back cargo bay with over 52 cubes of cargo volume that could hit your wallet hard at a Home Depot or Lowes, making the hit on your wallet at a gas station feel like a McDonald’s value menu.

Instrumentation is complete with a big speedo flanked by a smaller tach (larger would be better as this engine is very quick revving) on the left and ancillary gauges and info/trip computer screen on the right. On top of the center stack is a screen with a detailed fuel economy page that is fun to use with more detailed info and a fuel econ history page. Its standard sound system is easy to use and sounds great.

Now to the best part, the price of admission. My Sport stickers for a “miniscule” $17,500. Add about a grand for a CVT auto cog-swapper. Shipping from its assembly plant in Mexico adds $890. This car is a bargain at a few bucks over $18,000. Why spend thousands more for a hybrid. You get less performance and only slightly better fuel economy without the substantially more utility? This Fit is fantastic.

Larry Weitzman has been into cars since he was 5 years old. At 8 he could recite from memory the hp of every car made in the U.S. He has put in thousands of laps on racetracks all over the Western United States.

Musician Lindsay McIntosh comes full circle as her career brings her back to the Sierra. Photo/Susan Wood

By Susan Wood

INCLINE VILLAGE – “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere” from “New York, New York” could have been classical musician Lindsay McIntosh’s theme.

Catapulted from her humble beginnings in the Truckee High School band, McIntosh did make it in the Big Apple as the song implies — and then some.

At a mere age 34, the Julliard-trained oboist takes a lifetime of achievement to return home with her craft. Now as deputy director of Classical Tahoe, she’s instrumental at staging the world-renowned summer music festival and institute to celebrate the arts for three weeks starting July 8 at Sierra Nevada College. 

Big endeavor? Yes. But from her early days playing in the Truckee High School band onto a full scholarship at the world’s premier music school, she’s never shied away from a challenge, hard work and the dream to make and curate classical music.

Case in point – delving into her professional life may result in being handed three or more business cards.

Five years ago, McIntosh hit the fast track. She used her second year at Julliard to enhance her desire to lead and create musical events by founding New Vintage Baroque, an ensemble dedicated to historical instruments used to perform a 21st century repertoire.

She produced 25 programs, took in more than $100,000 in fundraising, established a board of directors, commissioned 17 world premiere performances, collaborated on three opera productions, recorded an album of original works on the VIA label and played in 75 performances in New York, Connecticut, California and the Netherlands.

From Truckee High Lindsay McIntosh went on to Julliard. Photo/Susan Wood

Four years later, the oboist took her decade of expertise to launch Coburn Music – which staged pop-up concerts in Truckee. It’s SXSW in Austin meets the Sierra Nevada.

Her heavy involvement in the music world has given her a lot of insight, many contacts and much joy.

“My whole experience is rooted in hard work,” McIntosh told Lake Tahoe News over coffee at her hangout blocks from her new home – the I.V. Coffee Lab.

The sense of accomplishment leads to her happiness.

“When I’m sitting there with an orchestra, I’m being a part of something bigger than myself. I can’t create that without playing,” she said.

She recalled growing up trying out different woodwind instruments but wondered which one “would get me a job.” She was destined to play the oboe because, if anything, it required more than practice to perfect it. Oboists make their own reeds, adjusting their shapes to accommodate certain sounds.

Lindsay McIntosh in 2000 during a band-a-thon in Truckee. Photo/Provided

“There’s a lot of back pressure in oboes. You can either play it or you can’t,” she said, displaying a few she’s constructed from a special cane produced in France. “You either sound like an angel from heaven or a squawking duck.”

This was her assessment as she advanced from high school to an undergraduate program in Turlock to Boston University to Julliard.

So why return to a sleepy, small mountain town versus the lights of the city “that never sleeps?”

For all her accomplishments, McIntosh has a humble side – crediting her operatic husband, mother, high school bandleader, best friend and fellow musician as well as the Truckee community for helping her make her mark on the music world.

Julliard teaches more than how to be the best musician. A student takes classes in how to be a whole person, immersed in one’s industry. There’s even a class on how to behave during receptions. 

“I never thought I’d leave New York. I was there for six years, but (the music scene) is oversaturated,” she said. “I was connected to the music world in New York, but I wanted to give back.”

It’s almost like she knew all along she’d eventually come home to her roots. With creating the weeklong Coburn Music festival on a trip home last summer, her transcontinental outreach prompted her to bring home a handful of accomplished musicians in their own right to play at various Truckee venues. The experience put her in touch with Classical Tahoe Executive Director Karen Craig. Both admired each other’s work from across the country.

When a job opening at Classical Tahoe came open on the day McIntosh was meeting with Craig’s associate in New York, it was nothing short of serendipity.

Today, McIntosh couldn’t imagine her professional life anywhere other than Classical Tahoe – where plans for making it a year-round venue are floating around.

“We went after each other. The bottom line is, either timing is everything or the stars were in line,” Craig said of landing McIntosh. The oboist describes the experience the same way.

“What intrigued me the most is she was raised here. She’s a total go-getter who earned a scholarship from the top music school,” she said.

Lindsay McIntosh at a Boston University recital. Photo/Provided

Craig added McIntosh’s notable charisma, gifted talent and intrepid characteristics that have helped her seize “uncharted waters.”

It’s a long way from those early days in Truckee when McIntosh labored over music theory and stayed after school to practice her scales with bandleader David Green, who’s now retired after 24 years.

“She’s dedicated to what she does and gives it 110 percent,” Green said of McIntosh. The teacher didn’t know she would be so successful because she “had trouble with her rhythms,” but “she worked really hard.”

Her best friend and fellow musician in high school, Brandon Dolph, noticed the same traits. The two musicians never dated when they were young (he dated her best friend), but they were always there for each other. (McIntosh was a bridesmaid at Dolph’s wedding.)

“Lindsay struggled. I helped her with her theory. This doesn’t come naturally to some kids,” said the trumpeter, who runs a Reno music shop. “She had to work harder. Because of that, she developed a work ethic that’s tenacious.”

One day, it all clicked. Then, McIntosh accelerated and “reached a level we can only dream of,” he added. “I’m super happy she’s home.”

He intends to attend McIntosh’s labor of love.

Classical Tahoe’s summer music festival features 350 terraced seats with a diverse lineup of iconic experiences honoring legendary composers like Beethoven and Mozart and performed by musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony to the Seattle Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

As majestic as the music sounds in idyllic natural surroundings, Craig portrays the setting as intimate – quite a departure from the usual symphonic metro venues seating thousands of people.

The Village at Squaw Valley will host the 17th annual Brews, Jazz and Funk Fest on Aug. 11-12.

This is open to all ages. Festival guests over the age of 21 can enjoy craft beers from more than 35 breweries.

All proceeds will benefit the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe.

The event will take place from 2-8pm each day. Cost is $10 each day. Tickets for 16 ounce beers will be $5 each.

For more details, go online.

Eight graduating students from the South Shore and Carson Valley were awarded a combined $16,000 in scholarships from Barton Memorial Hospital Auxiliary.

The annual scholarship program was open to local high school and community college students focusing their higher education in a medical field.

Barton Auxiliary’s 2018 grant cycle included a new Dan Kerr Memorial Scholarship, celebrating the legacy of Auxiliary member and avid volunteer, Dan Kerr. Totaling $7,000, this new scholarship was awarded to two graduating seniors of Barton Memorial Hospital employees. An additional $9,000 was divvied between recipients selected on the basis of academic excellence and interest in pursuing a career in a medically related career.

Dan Kerr Scholarship recipients were Abby Burns and Gabriella Fisher of South Tahoe High School. The Barton Auxiliary Scholarships were awarded to Marin Underhill of Lake Tahoe Community College; Shelby Lyon and Bailey Segers of South Tahoe High School; Nicholaus Buchholz of Whittell High School; and Simranjit Kaur and Ian Ozolins of Douglas High School.

Waldo

Waldo is a very photogenic brown tiger and white domestic shorthair cat. 

He is about 2 years old and very friendly. Waldo’s adoption fee has been paid.

Waldo is neutered, microchipped, tested for FIVted for FIV, and vaccinated. He is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter. 

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet. For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online. 

— Karen Kuentz

By Melinda Myers

Keep your perennial gardens looking their best throughout the hot summer months with a bit of midsummer grooming and care. Investing time midseason means you’ll be enjoying beautiful gardens now through the end of the growing season.

Start by deadheading, removing faded flowers, to improve the plants’ overall appearance. It won’t extend bloom time on all perennials, but will keep some like bergenia, lamb’s ear, peonies, and perennial geraniums looking neat and tidy throughout the summer. Deadheading will encourage an additional flush of flowers on many perennials including bee balm, coral bells, daylilies, fringed bleeding heart, phlox, purple coneflowers, salvia, veronica, and yarrow.

Removing faded flowers before they can set seed, also known as deadheading, encourages an additional flush of flowers on many perennials including daylilies. Photo/Melinda Myers LLC

Cut spent flowers back to the nearest set of side shoots with flower buds or healthy leaves on perennials like coneflowers, catmints, salvias, shasta daisies, turtlehead and veronicas.

On daylilies and balloon flowers, remove individual flowers on the flower scape (stem) as they fade. Once all the individual flowers have faded and been deadheaded, remove the whole flower stem.

Prune flower stems back to a rosette of leaves at the base of the plant on coral bells, hosta and lamb’s ear to keep these plants looking their best. 

Shearing a plant, also called cutting back, is a pruning method that removes large amounts of plant material in one fell swoop. This method is useful for plants with an abundance of small flowers such as creeping phlox, rock cress and threadleaf coreopsis.  Also consider digging and dividing threadleaf coreopsis every few years to promote continuous bloom.

Keep mums and asters pruned to 6 inches throughout June and stop the beginning of July. Complete pruning by the beginning of July on late summer and fall blooming perennials. Early season pruning encourages more compact growth and can be used to stagger bloom times. Manage flopping growth on plants such as Walker’s Low Catmint (Nepeta) by cutting the plants back halfway.  Cut back salvias and Veronicas after the second flush of flowers to promote compact growth and additional bloom. 

Thin out overcrowded plants by removing some stems to the ground. This increases light penetration and airflow to the plants, reducing the risk of disease.

Use ground level pruning on bleeding heart and other perennials that dieback midseason.      

Dead leafing, a technique used to remove or trim back discolored foliage, allows the flowers to remain the center of attention.

Stake plants in need of support to prevent perennials from flopping. This will reduce disease and increase beauty.  

Although it’s always best to put stakes and supports in place as plants emerge in spring, you can still add a bit of support mid-season. Use bamboo stakes and ties, twigs woven into stems or other attractive or virtually invisible stakes. Then mark next year’s calendar to remind yourself to put stakes in place in spring as plants emerge.

Spread a thin layer of mulch such as shredded leaves, evergreen needles, twice shredded bark or other organic material over the soil surface. Mulching conserves moisture, suppresses weeds, keeps roots cool during hot weather and improves the soil as it decomposes.

Continue to remove weeds throughout the season to eliminate competition for water and nutrients. Removing weeds before they form seeds eliminates hundreds of weeds you’ll need to pull in next year’s garden.  Weeding also reduces the risk of insects and disease in your garden since some weeds attract pests and serve as host for diseases that can damage perennials.

Plant perennials or annuals to fill voids or mask declining spring bloomers. Water new plantings often enough to keep the roots moist for the first few weeks. Eventually switch to thorough, less frequent watering to encourage deep drought tolerant roots. And don’t forget to mulch the soil right after you plant to keep roots cool and moist.

Once your perennial gardens are spruced up, it’s time to sit back and enjoy the beauty you’ve created.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including “Small Space Gardening.” She hosts the Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally syndicated “Melinda’s Garden Moment” TV and radio segments.

Tahoe Arts Project will be bringing the Missoula Children’s Theater back to Tahoe the week of July 9-13. 

Auditions for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” will be July 9 at the South Tahoe Middle School multi-purpose room from 10am-noon. Plan to stay for the full two hours.

Some of the cast members will be asked to stay for a rehearsal immediately following the audition.

Among the roles to be cast are Snow White, her friends Phineas, Foxy and Fernando, queen, seven Dwarfs, the forest animals, Black Forest creatures, a magic mirror, bats, henchmen and the king. No advance preparation is necessary.

Assistant directors will also be cast to aid in rehearsals throughout the week and to take on essential backstage responsibilities.

All students entering first grade through grade 12 are encouraged to audition. Must be 5 and have completed kindergarten to participate. There is no guarantee that everyone who auditions will be cast in the play.

Auditions are free. If cast, there will be a fee of $50 per child fee to participate in this weeklong theater program. A limited number of scholarships are available.

For more info, call Peggy Blowney at 530.542.3632.

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” will be presented July 13 at STMS at 3 and 5:30pm. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors.