Being a business owner in this community isn’t always as lovey-dovey as one might imagine. Ask Larry Glass. He has owned The Works, a record store in Old Town Eureka, for 38 years, and has a second shop in Arcata. He also is a Eureka City Council member who opposes big-box development on the waterfront […]
Life + Outdoors
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Pupal Memories
I remember watching a chick emerge from an egg. It was miraculous. I have also seen a mosquito dragging itself from its pupa, standing on water for a moment to inflate its wings, and then flying away in search of blood. It was equally awesome. I mention the mosquito to quell the enthusiasm of those […]
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Lagoons and Beaches
Lagoons Shelter Cove Much of our coastal topography is generated by repeated slips on thrust faults like the one along the east shore of Big Lagoon. However, wave activity tends to straighten the coastline by eroding headlands and depositing sediments in bays. Wave energy is focused onto the headlands by the refraction of waves as […]
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Alien Plants
Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana).Photo by Don Garlick. Which are the worst invasive plants in our region? My ranking is presented below: #1: The Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) is so familiar that no photo is required. This bramble is so aggressive that we have all encountered its tenacious thorns. Don’t defend it by invoking its sweet […]
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Mammals of Mass Destruction
I could have put a layer of chicken wire under my straw bales before I set up my clever new straw bale vegetable garden. How easy it would have been. Clear the weeds, lay down the chicken wire, arrange the bales on top. Had I done that, I would have had a no-dig, weed-free, compostable […]
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Walking With Brother
There once lived an elderly woman known as “Peace Pilgrim.” When she was in her 40s, she started walking across the United States to promote peace. The year was 1953. She continued walking for the next 28 years and traveled over 25,000 miles on foot. Her sole purpose was simply to promote peace by walking […]
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Fire, No Driver
A call came into the Willow Creek Volunteer Fire Department last Sunday: There was a fire just past Titlow Hill. Volunteers rushed to the station. And then waited. And waited. After about 10 minutes, someone licensed to drive one of their fire trucks showed up and they barreled off. "We hit the road, but we […]
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Angels and Insects
Four miles south of Batavia, Ohio and 25 miles east of Cincinnati in a lush green valley formed by glacial deposits, participants, spectators and 17-year cicadas interfaced at Harsha Lake for the 2008 Youth National Rowing Championships held June 12-15. A dam built on the East Fork of the Little Miami River formed this warm, […]
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Our Mattole Canyon
Just west of Cape Mendocino there exists a submarine escarpment related to the boundary between the Pacific and Gorda plates. It descends into a canyon which exceeds the relief of the Grand Canyon (see profiles). As a consequence, the surface of the ocean off Cape Mendocino is not horizontal! Sailing north across the escarpment with […]
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Eat Your Trash
For years, people in the gardening industry — seed companies, plant growers, owners of garden centers — have complained that gardening is on the decline. People don’t have time to garden anymore, they said. This younger generation just doesn’t want to spend the weekend in the backyard. Or if they do, they don’t consider the […]