LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With rain expected this week around Lake County and the North Coast, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is offering the following storm preparation tips.

• Have battery-operated radios with fresh batteries ready for updates on storm conditions and power outages.

• Have battery-operated flashlights with fresh batteries on hand.

• Have a cell phone or hard-wire, single-line telephone on hand. Cordless phones will not work without electricity.

• Do not use candles because of the risk of fire. If you must use candles, use extreme caution. Do not use candles near drapes, under lampshades or near holiday trees. Keep candles away from small children and do not leave candles unattended.

• If you see a downed power line, assume it is “live” or carrying electric current. Do not touch or try to move it—and keep children and animals away. Report downed power lines and other electric emergencies immediately by calling 911 and PG&E’s customer service line at 1-800-PGE-5000.

• If your power goes out, turn off or even unplug all electric appliances. Otherwise, when power is restored, several appliances might come back on at once and overload your circuits or hot appliances might come on while you’re away or asleep and pose a fire hazard. Leave a single lamp on to alert you when power returns. Turn your appliances back on one at a time when conditions return to normal.

• If you see a downed power line, assume it is “live” or carrying electric current. Do not touch or try to move it – and keep children and animals away. Report downed power lines and other electric emergencies immediately by calling 911 and PG&E’s customer service line at 1-800-PGE-5000.

For more storm-related tips and information, visit www.pge.com.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Clear Lake Trowel & Trellis Garden Club will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

The meeting will be held at the Scotts Valley Women's Club House, 2298 Hendricks Road, Lakeport.

The board meeting will begin at 11 a.m., with social time at noon.

Flower roll call will start at 12:30 p.m., to be followed at 1 p.m. by a program on invasive plants.

Chuck Morse, assistant agricultural commissioner for Mendocino County, will give an informative talk about plants that can be harmful to the environment.

The club meets at the Scotts Valley Women's Club House at noon on the third Tuesday of each month, except July and August.

Members, guests and all interested community members are most welcome to attend. President Helen Turley, 707-262-1721, invites interested gardeners to join us.

Clear Lake Trowel & Trellis Garden Club is a member of Mendo-Lake District, California Garden Club Inc., Pacific Region and National Garden Clubs Inc.

For more information visit www.clttgc.org.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Historic Courthouse Museum continues its Historic Reading Series on Saturday, Feb. 18.

The readings take place in the historic courtroom on the second floor and will begin at 2 p.m.

This month, Bill Groody, president of The Friends of the Lake County Museum, will read from two journals.

The first one was written in 1874 by L.L. Paulson, a San Francisco-based travel writer, who visited Lake County and tells some delightful anecdotes of his adventures.

Groody also will read from the California and Overland Diaries of Count Leonetto Cipriani.

Count Cipriani traveled here on horseback with an Indian guide looking for farmland to purchase in about 1855.

Other readings in this series will take place on March 17 and April 21.

There is no admission charge and refreshments will be served.

For more information, please call the museum at 707-263-4555.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Area Town Hall (MATH) will hold its next meeting on Thursday, Feb. 9.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at Calpine's Cartwright Geothermal Visitors Center, 15500 Central Park Road.

Under unfinished business, the group will receive an update on the Middletown Square Park design and development, election new officers for the year and prioritize MATH projects for 2012.

In business, the group will consider a letter to Caltrans regarding safety at Dry Creek Road and Highway 29.

MATH meetings are subject to videotaping. Meeting proceedings may be available for viewing on public access television and/or the Internet.

MATH – established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 – is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (includes Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The board of directors of the Lake County Wine Alliance invites nonprofit organizations, agencies and programs in Lake County to apply for a share of the proceeds from the 2012 Lake County Wine Auction.

The 13th annual benefit will be held on Saturday, Sept. 15, at Brassfield Estate Winery in High Valley.

Applications must be postmarked or submitted via email by March 1.

Applications for funding may be obtained from the Wine Alliance Web site, www.winealliance.org, or by contacting Judy Luchsinger, chair of the beneficiaries committee, at 707-263-3280, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Lake County Wine Alliance may be contacted by phone, 866-279-9463, or by mail to P.O. Box 530, Kelseyville, CA 95451.

Eighteen nonprofit organizations, including agencies, programs, senior centers and high schools, received $65,000 from the proceeds of the 2011 wine auction held last September at Ceago Vinegarden.

Awards are made in the fields of the arts, health services, and the community. The Wine Alliance has contributed $896,765 in proceeds to Lake County groups since the inception of the annual charity event in 2000.

Proceeds include ticket sales, donations from sponsorships, live and silent auction income, purchases of reserve wines at the event, and sales of special edition, commemorative fine art posters by Lake County artist John R. Clarke.

Local wineries, wine grape growers, restaurants, and other businesses and individuals are generous supporters through their donations to the live and silent auctions and to the food and beverages served at the gala affair.

Lake County and regional businesses provide support through sponsorships.

The charter of the Wine Alliance directs its efforts to foster the arts, benefit health services, and support the community, while promoting Lake County as a premier grape growing and fine wine region.

The Wine Alliance is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization of Lake County wineries, wine grape growers, and business and community supporters that annually presents the wine auction as a fundraising charity benefit.

Members of the Wine Alliance board are Kaj Ahlmann, Lower Lake, president; Judy Luchsinger, Lakeport, vice president; Sharron Zoller, Kelseyville, secretary; Rob Roumiguiere, Kelseyville, treasurer; and Marie Beery, Kelseyville, Bill Groody, Kelseyville, and Wilda Shock, Lakeport, directors. Honorary chairman of the 2012 event is Jerry Brassfield, proprietor of Brassfield Estate Winery and Vineyard, High Valley.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Sons of Norway Vikings of Lake Lodge Member Dennis Robison is the proud winner of a beautiful quilt designed and made by Ellen Aasen.

The quilt was raffled off in order to help provide scholarships to the district’s Language & Heritage Camp, Camp Troll Fjell, in the Sierra Foothills at Camp Norge.

Scholarship recipients are the lodge’s Heritage Members, ages 8-13, who spend two weeks studying about Norway and cementing friendships for life.