LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The stormy Saturday weather led to falling trees, road closures and rising water levels, with more rain beginning overnight and forecast to continue through Sunday.

All of Lake County is under a flood watch that remains in effect through 4 p.m. Wednesday, with the National Weather Service continuing to forecast a week of rain ahead.

Sunday is forecast to have especially heavy rain, with total rainfall expected to be up to 2 inches and wind gusts of more than 30 miles per hour.

For the 24-hour period ending at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, the National Weather Service reported the following rainfall totals, in inches, at observation stations around Lake County:

– Bear Canyon (Middletown): 3.30.
– Cache Creek (near Lower Lake): 1.61.
– Cobb: 1.73.
– High Glade Lookout (above Upper Lake): 1.77.
– Indian Valley Reservoir: 0.66.
– Jerusalem Grade (Middletown): 2.48.
– Kelseyville: 1.28.
– Mt. Konocti: 1.44.
– Putah Creek (Middletown): 2.28.
– Upper Lake – 1.0.

The wet conditions led to the Lake County Public Works Department closing Elk Mountain Road at mile post marker 29.6 to all traffic due to the road washing out. The agency did not have an estimate as to when the road will reopen.

The rain and winds on Saturday also were responsible for causing a tree to fall on Laurel Dell in Upper Lake, grazing a nearby house and falling a car just before 3 a.m. Saturday, according to radio reports. No one was injured.

At around 6 a.m., two trees were reported to have fallen on a home and on vehicles on Oak Drive in Kelseyville.

Clear Lake's level continued to rise, hitting 4.16 feet Rumsey early Sunday, up from 3.91 feet Rumsey on Friday morning.

In other weather-related news, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Lake Pillsbury has reached its spill crest and water is running over the spillway. During winter, spill gates remain open for flood control. In the spring, the spill gates will be closed, allowing the reservoir to fill an additional 10 feet.

Lake Pillsbury's dam spillway empties back into the Eel River, and the company cautioned anyone going near the Upper Eel River to be aware of higher and changing flows with the coming rains. PG&E said the rain could cause flows on the river to increase several fold and will be well above the normal seasonal flows for this time of year.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A mundane chore of yesteryear was made, as its name implies, easier, through the use of the Easy Vacuum Electric Washer, circa 1912.

The Easy Vacuum Electric Washer was constructed of copper, and was a work of art, as well as a work horse.

This beauty had a heater underneath the drum that could be hooked up to fuel. The Easy Washer was electric, and it was not grounded!

The washer was advertised to keep costly clothing from ruination due to the typical “tubbing and rubbing of old fashioned laundering methods.”

The washer was first filled to the indented line you can see on its tub portion, then after soap was added, along with the clothes, of course, you flipped a switch to begin the plungers.

The plungers, or vacuum cups, two or three of them, pumped up and down, and rotated slowly, as well, for effective washing of grubby clothing.

After the agitation completed its course of action, the ringer was turned on to expel excess water before the clothes were ready to hang dry.

As some advertisements of the time said, “In the Easy Vacuum Electric Washer you can trust baby's most delicate things – white dresses, flannels, blankets, afghans, caps, coats and tiny hose. How clean, sweet, soft and fluffy it makes them.”

Prior to the ease of the Easy Washing Machine, the devices used to clean clothes were many and varied.

Of course, before indoor plumbing, laundry was done by pumping water from the well, hauling the water for washing to be heated on a stove or fire, then dumped into a tub for soiled clothes-washing.

The labor-intensive process meant that water was reused for further loads of laundry several times over.

Washboards were very popular after the board was invented in 1797 by New Hampshire's Nathaniel Briggs.

Also used in the 1790s were wooden drum type devices which used a rotating technology that was patented in England in 1791, and was called a washing mill.

These enclosed devices resembled small wine barrels and utilized textured walls inside the drums to aid in the cleaning process. A washing stick was included for the person washing clothing to press the clothes into the wood drum.

Later on, in the 1850s washing machines driven by steam were used commercially, both here and in England.

Next came a plethora of washing devices including rotary washing machines, and gasoline engine driven machines.

The “Wonder Washer” of 1907 was another patented washing machine used in homes, and has been displayed in the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum along with the “Easy Vacuum Electric Washer” of 1912.

For a demonstration on the Easy Washing Machine see the video below.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – A Saturday afternoon fire damaged a Hidden Valley Lake home but the resident and three pets were rescued thanks to the fast action of firefighters.

South Lake County Fire and Cal Fire units responded to the fire in the 18000 block of Spyglass Road, which was reported at approximately 1:17 p.m. Saturday, according to a Cal Fire report.

Fire was reported to be coming from the garage, Cal Fire said. Fire units arrived at scene to find a working fire with power lines down.

Cal Fire said one victim was rescued from the structure and transported to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake for treatment of injuries. Three cats also were rescued from the home.

Resources assigned to the incident included one volunteer company, one water tender, five engine companies and 18 total personnel, according to the Cal Fire report. Pacific Gas and Electric also responded to address the downed power issues.

Half of the structure was destroyed, and Cal Fire estimated the loss at $200,000, with $80,000 worth of damage prevented.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and shortly after 3 p.m. Cal Fire said crews remained on scene to conduct overhaul and finish extinguishing the structure.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NASA has selected two missions that have the potential to open new windows on one of the earliest eras in the history of our solar system – a time less than 10 million years after the birth of our sun.

The missions, known as Lucy and Psyche, were chosen from five finalists and will proceed to mission formulation, with the goal of launching in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

“Lucy will visit a target-rich environment of Jupiter’s mysterious Trojan asteroids, while Psyche will study a unique metal asteroid that’s never been visited before,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This is what Discovery Program missions are all about – boldly going to places we’ve never been to enable groundbreaking science.”

Lucy, a robotic spacecraft, is scheduled to launch in October 2021. It’s slated to arrive at its first destination, a main belt asteroid, in 2025. From 2027 to 2033, Lucy will explore six Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

These asteroids are trapped by Jupiter’s gravity in two swarms that share the planet’s orbit, one leading and one trailing Jupiter in its 12-year circuit around the sun. The Trojans are thought to be relics of a much earlier era in the history of the solar system, and may have formed far beyond Jupiter’s current orbit.

“This is a unique opportunity,” said Harold F. Levison, principal investigator of the Lucy mission from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “Because the Trojans are remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets, they hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system. Lucy, like the human fossil for which it is named, will revolutionize the understanding of our origins.”

Lucy will build on the success of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, using newer versions of the RALPH and LORRI science instruments that helped enable the mission’s achievements.

Several members of the Lucy mission team also are veterans of the New Horizons mission. Lucy also will build on the success of the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu, with the OTES instrument and several members of the OSIRIS-REx team.

The Psyche mission will explore one of the most intriguing targets in the main asteroid belt – a giant metal asteroid, known as 16 Psyche, about three times farther away from the sun than is the Earth.

This asteroid measures about 130 miles in diameter and, unlike most other asteroids that are rocky or icy bodies, is thought to be comprised mostly of metallic iron and nickel, similar to Earth’s core.

Scientists wonder whether Psyche could be an exposed core of an early planet that could have been as large as Mars, but which lost its rocky outer layers due to a number of violent collisions billions of years ago.

The mission will help scientists understand how planets and other bodies separated into their layers – including cores, mantles and crusts – early in their histories.

“This is an opportunity to explore a new type of world – not one of rock or ice, but of metal,” said Psyche Principal Investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University in Tempe. “16 Psyche is the only known object of its kind in the solar system, and this is the only way humans will ever visit a core. We learn about inner space by visiting outer space.”

Psyche, also a robotic mission, is targeted to launch in October of 2023, arriving at the asteroid in 2030, following an Earth gravity assist spacecraft maneuver in 2024 and a Mars flyby in 2025.

In addition to selecting the Lucy and Psyche missions for formulation, the agency will extend funding for the Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) project for an additional year. The NEOCam space telescope is designed to survey regions of space closest to Earth’s orbit, where potentially hazardous asteroids may be found.

“These are true missions of discovery that integrate into NASA’s larger strategy of investigating how the solar system formed and evolved,” said NASA’s Planetary Science Director Jim Green. “We’ve explored terrestrial planets, gas giants, and a range of other bodies orbiting the sun. Lucy will observe primitive remnants from farther out in the solar system, while Psyche will directly observe the interior of a planetary body. These additional pieces of the puzzle will help us understand how the sun and its family of planets formed, changed over time, and became places where life could develop and be sustained – and what the future may hold.”

Discovery Program class missions like these are relatively low-cost, their development capped at about $450 million.

They are managed for NASA’s Planetary Science Division by the Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The missions are designed and led by a principal investigator, who assembles a team of scientists and engineers, to address key science questions about the solar system.

The Discovery Program portfolio includes 12 prior selections such as the MESSENGER mission to study Mercury, the Dawn mission to explore asteroids Vesta and Ceres, and the InSight Mars lander, scheduled to launch in May 2018.

NASA’s other missions to asteroids began with the NEAR orbiter of asteroid Eros, which arrived in 2000, and continues with Dawn, which orbited Vesta and now is in an extended mission phase at Ceres.

The OSIRIS-REx mission, which launched on Sept. 8, 2016, is speeding toward a 2018 rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu, and will deliver a sample back to Earth in 2023. Each mission focuses on a different aspect of asteroid science to give scientists the broader picture of solar system formation and evolution.

Read more about NASA’s Discovery Program and missions at https://discovery.nasa.gov/missions.cfml .

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A 3.0-magnitude earthquake was reported near Upper Lake early Saturday afternoon.

The quake occurred at 12:05 p.m., according to the US Geological Survey.

The US Geological Survey said the epicenter was 12 miles north northeast of Upper Lake at a depth of 4.3 miles.

No shake reports had been submitted on the quake as of 4 p.m.

The epicenter of Saturday's quake is close to those of a 3.1-magnitude quake that occurred Dec. 5 and what's believed to be the biggest quake in more than a century, a 5.1-magnitude temblor that occurred Aug. 9, as Lake County News has reported.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Animal Care and Control has several handsome German Shepherds needing homes this week along with a number of other large dog breeds and some small ones, too.

This week's dogs include mixes of American Bulldog, Australian Cattle Dog, border collie, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, husky, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, Shar Pei, shepherd and terrier.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

'Scout'

“Scout” is a male Chihuahua-terrier mix with a short red coat. He already has been neutered.

He's in kennel No. 2, ID No. 6298.

Pit bull terrier

This male pit bull terrier mix has a short tan coat.

He's in kennel No. 6, ID No. 6765.

Terrier-Shar Pei mix

This male terrier-Shar Pei mix has a short black coat with white markings and floppy ears.

He's in kennel No. 11, ID No. 6505.

Pit bull terrier

This female pit bull terrier has a short gray and brindle coat.

She's in kennel No. 12, ID No. 6739.

Female husky

This female husky has a medium-length red and white coat.

She's in kennel No. 15a, ID No. 6698.

Border collie-Australian Cattle Dog

This male Border collie-Australian Cattle Dog has a short black and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He's in kennel No. 16, ID No. 6710.

Male pit bull

This male pit bull has a short blue and white coat.

He has been sponsored and is available for free to an approved family.

He's in kennel No. 21, ID No. 6665.

German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length tan and black coat.

She's in kennel No. 22, ID No. 6772.

German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd has a medium black and tan coat.

He's in kennel No. 23, ID No. 6758.

'Max'

“Max” is a male Shar Pei-pit bull mix with a short black and white coat.

Shelter staff said he already has been neutered, and would do well in a home with no livestock.

He's in kennel No. 25, ID No. 6629.

German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd has a medium-length black and tan coat.

He's in kennel No. 26, ID No. 6771.

German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd has a medium-length cream and black coat.

He's in kennel No. 29, ID No. 6757.

Chocolate Labrador Retriever

This male Labrador Retriever has a short chocolate-colored coat.

He's in kennel No. 30, ID No. 6729.

'Tina'

“Tina” is a female American Bulldog with a short white coat.

She's in kennel No. 32a, ID No. 6708.

'Dolly'

“Dolly” is a female American Bulldog with a short white coat.

She's in kennel No. 32b, ID No. 6709.

Labrador Retriever-pit bull terrier

This male Labrador Retriever-pit bull terrier has a short black and white coat.

He's in kennel No. 34, ID No. 6707.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A little girl in Clearlake and a little boy in Lakeport are the first two babies born in Lake County in 2017.

The first baby born in Lake County in 2017, Aaliyah Rose Shoop, was still comfortably in utero as the new year arrived on Sunday.

It wasn’t until Tuesday that Lake County’s New Year’s baby made her arrival at 8:26 a.m. at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake to happy parents Billy Dean Shoop and Lindsey Marie Kenton.
 
Little Aaliyah was delivered by Dr. Kimberly Fordham and Women’s Care Unit nurse Josephine Lutz, RN. She was a healthy 7 pounds, 7 ounces.

“Each new baby is a reason for celebration, but welcoming a new life at the beginning of a new year is special for our entire team,” said Al Hansen, RN, director of Surgery and Women’s Care at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake. “All year long, we are privileged to provide every family in our community with a healthy, happy beginning for their newborn.”

The hospital gave the family a number of gifts for Aaliyah.

 
In Lakeport, Sutter Lakeside Hospital's first baby of the year was a boy.
 
Baby Leo Torres was born to Jessica Johns and Armando Torres at 4:50 a.m. on Friday at the Sutter Lakeside Family Birth Center. Leo measured 21 inches and weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces.
 
“His older brother Aiden is thrilled,” said Johns. “Leo is the first baby to join our family in a while, so we’re excited.”
 
The Family Birth Center provided a welcome basket to the family, which included a swaddling blanket, a visual monitoring system and a backseat mirror to allow a clear view of the baby’s face while driving.
 
All babies born in the Family Birth Center also receive a year-long subscription to the Imagination Library as part of an initiative to boost literacy. The family will receive one age appropriate book each month to encourage reading at home.