April 1-6
Mink lust, scared chickens, street art
(March 31, 2011) April 1. For mink breeders, the month of April provides a welcome respite from the state of high agitation brought on by mating season. Although it is not strictly necessary to segregate the males from the females at the conclusion of their couplings, the females greatly prefer to see the males removed to as far a distance as possible.
April 2. A chicken in distress becomes possessed of a kind of supernatural calm and is therefore easier to capture and treat; after a small fuss, she places herself in the hands of her rescuer and awaits her fate.
April 3. New moon, 7:33 a.m. Saturn will be close to the Earth and brightly visible to those who know where to look.
April 4. Eureka has become the perfect canvas for the up-and-coming street artist with Banksy-esque aspirations. The art is everywhere and nowhere; it appears in doorways and on sidewalks and on the sides of abandoned buildings. It is scrubbed away in the most perfunctory manner as if it is graffiti, as if it is nothing, as if it refers to nothing and is in dialogue with nothing and could not possibly matter. This is the highest tribute one could pay to the street artist, who banks not on recognition but on anonymity, who paints not for collectors but for pedestrians, for all of us, the anonymous and unnamed. Street art comes to us like grace: unbidden, unannounced, unsigned, costing nothing but our attention. It is free to anyone who knows to look; unaffordable and out of reach to those who don’t.
April 5. An amusing game called Friendly Enemies can be played by binding the left hands and right feet of the two players, blindfolding them, and handing them each a soft bat made by stuffing a sock with cotton. The first player calls out, “Where are you, friend?” and the other responds. The object of the game is for the first player to hit the second player merely by judging the source of the second player’s voice. This game is quite entertaining to watch and is suitable for any occasion.
April 6. One hears of abandoned and boarded-up downtown motels becoming giant canvases for street artists.
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Today
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Pancake Breakfast
food / 7:30-11:30 a.m. Humboldt Grange #501, 5845 Humboldt Hill Road. Monthly breakfast.
Open Gardens
outdoors / 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens, College of the Redwoods, Eureka. Roam the 44-acre fully fenced property. $5. www.hbgf.org. 442-5139.
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ONE Comments
Comment / By circleface / Today, 11:45 a.m.
April 4. thanks for the write-up. very glad to read your thoughts on what we do..enjoy it while you can, our town’s police have so much hate in their hearts; i’ll be leaving very soon. see most of the work at flickr.com/circle_face/