You have got chains, right, Ben?" We had skipped town again, this time with cross-country skis, to take advantage of the recent cold snap — finally a benefit to the omnipresent Humboldt County winter precipitation. The joy of writing an outdoor column is that you always have a handy excuse to escape, nearly guilt-free, and […]
Life + Outdoors
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Moon on You
Well, shall we start with the moon? It hovered, just past full, at the far end of the long corridors between rows of Old Town buildings, lighting up alleys and casting blue tones onto the already lamp-lit streets. You’d walk alongside one old brick edifice – perhaps darting inside to check out an art exhibit, […]
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Humboldt Gardeners in Their Own Words, Part 1
This is the first in a series of Q&As with Humboldt County gardeners. Eureka’s Gisela Rohde of Eureka kicks it off. She’s lived in Humboldt County for 27 years and has been at her current garden for five and a half years. When I asked her how she’d like to characterize her occupation or avocation, […]
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About a Worm
A mid last week’s news that the fed-eral government has mandated in-stallation of fish ladders as a condition of the government’s relicensing of PacifiCorp’s Klamath dams, some of the region’s top fisheries scientists gathered in Fortuna to talk about a worm. They met for two days to swap information about a tiny, translucent, squid-shaped class […]
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Do You Hear What I Hear?
A strange phenomenon descended upon the Arcata Community Center Saturday morning as the fourth weekend of youth basketball got underway. It was … quiet. Once, when play ceased on both courts, there was a moment of pure, breath-holding silence. It was downright eerie. Sure, during each game you could hear the players calling to each […]
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Lost Coast Triology: Part Three
If you really desire to fall of the map, head down to Sinkyone State Park. It has an almost mythical quality to it, starting with the drive in. From the north, narrow paved roads give way to one lane of dirt a few miles from the rustic visitor’s center at Needle Rock. The muddy strip […]
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Loud Pavement
On a clear and breezy Friday around rush hour, Gerridina "Dinie" Lean was finishing the last of the day’s chores. The sun was beginning its descent behind the hills and a few more horses still needed to be fed. On Lean’s 42-acre Tompkins Hill ranch in Fortuna about a mile from Highway 101, the Ferndale […]
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White Pavement
Fhyre Phoenix awoke in the middle of the night, brain ablaze. He had an idea for saving the world! Again. But this time, he thought, the solution was one that ordinary citizens could enact with ease. There was just one minor, niggling obstacle. So let’s hark back to where it all began: in the letters […]
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Getting to Know You
Spring is the worst time to leave a garden, but that’s what I’m about to do. My publisher is sending me on a mad dash across the country from February through April, with just a few short stops at home to catch my breath and do my laundry. I’ll be on the road talking about […]
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Lost Coast Trilogy, Part Two
Some six years ago, during spring break at HSU, I hiked the Lost Coast for the first time. On that trip we hadn’t seen another hiker for two days and nearly 18 miles. It was a bit of a shock when arriving at Big Flat to have our first encounter be with a Cessna and […]
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Preaching Impeachment
Eight senior citizens and one adorable little girl stormed the Eureka offices of Congressman Mike Thompson last Wednesday at noon, lending their voices to a nationwide day of protest aimed at fomenting impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush. It was a cold, wet, blustery day. After several hours of silent protest outside the office […]
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Gardening in the Rain
So there I am, sitting at the kitchen table, looking glumly out at the rain. "What am I supposed to write about this week?" I ask my husband. "It’s raining. There’s nothing to do outside." "Write about the rain," he says. That sounds rather Zen, but there’s something to it. If you live in Humboldt […]