Yes, by simply learning how to interpret available data. The best window into tomorrow’s weather is a movie which compresses several hours of satellite-observations into a few seconds: Google "Eureka Weather" and click Current Conditions — East Pacific — Infrared — Loop. After some experience you will be able to reasonably forecast our weather by […]
Life + Outdoors
Posted inLife + Outdoors
On Shaky Ground
The Physical Science Building at the College of the Redwoods sits atop a grassy knoll on the corner of the campus. As was explained in detail at a special meeting of the community college’s board of trustees last Thursday, the building also sits atop something called the Little Salmon Fault. In fact, much of the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Communication Dept.
It would be easy at this moment in HSU’s history — surprisingly fat with increased enrollment as the spring semester freshly sprouts, but also in belt-tightening mode to cover a lingering deficit — to assume that any tales of overstuffed classes and enormous waiting lists has directly to do with this happy-sad situation. One might […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Stick-Slip Slug Slime
Banana slugs evolved from snails, and both are classified as Gastropoda. The slugs’ deterrent slime permitted them to almost completely abandon the protective but cumbersome shells carried by their snail ancestors. A few predators manage to eat banana slugs despite their defensive production of copious mucus, but the process is disgusting to watch. Some potential […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Rattlesnake Creek
S o there we were, drinking beer in a stinky little white car at 11:30 on a Sunday morning, thinking about kayaking 15.8 miles down Ten Mile Creek into the South Fork Eel River. The rain pounded. We were in downtown Garberville waiting on our friend Ed, who was trying to get gas. The power […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Cane Mutiny
Difficult, thorny, seemingly impossible pruning jobs don’t happen by accident. You have to really be dedicated to neglecting your garden in order for it to get so overgrown that you’re afraid to even approach it. I have been just this dedicated to my raspberry and blackberry bushes, and now I have the scars to prove […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Watts in Coffee, Pot and Brakes?
I am reading a full page ad in our local newspaper: "… miracle idea … heating bills hit rock bottom … miracle heater is a work of engineering genius … so advanced, you simply plug it into any wall outlet. It uses less energy than it takes to run a coffee maker. Yet it produces […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
A Professional Birdwatcher
Last summer, I went out with my friend Elias Elias to count marbled murrelets, the small, endangered water bird that nests on old-growth tree limbs. We tented the night before in the Prairie Creek campground and got up at 4 a.m. to count the birds as they left the forest for their salty breakfast at […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
What is Our Bedrock?
Our bedrock consists of an exceptional diversity of rocks spanning over 100 million years of history. The diversity is due to our location at the convergent boundary between continental and oceanic plates. To enjoy this diversity you should visit Trinidad Beach, where the "Franciscan" subduction complex consists of a mix of rocks from both plates. […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
‘Fish and chips’
After two years of sometimes tense discussion, the 26 disparate stakeholders participating in the Klamath Basin settlement talks released a proposed agreement Tuesday that they say provides for the diverse needs of irrigators, fishermen and Indian tribes. Craig Tucker of the Karuk Tribe is calling the Proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement a "fish and chips […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Ferndale Redeemed
Ferndale therapist Stuart Altschuler got exactly what he wanted for his birthday: On Monday night the Ferndale City Council voted 4-1 to approve a home occupation permit for his psychotherapy office. That permit has been at the center of a four-month debacle involving Altschuler, his neighbor Shannon Leonardo and Shannon’s uncle Rich Leonardo, who questioned […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Shady Lives of Ferns
A human female is diploid, having paired maternal and paternal chromosomes. She is born with over a million haploid eggs with unpaired chromosomes. Each egg has the potential of being fertilized by a haploid sperm. A fern’s life cycle is more complex. It alternates generations between a large diploid “sporophyte” plant that produces haploid spores and a small haploid “gametophyte” plant, grown […]