It’s not for everyone to take the world seriously all of the time, though some people probably need to, at least a little bit. But I don’t think I’m one of them. I surmise folks like that need people like me to keep things in balance, so this week I am taking creative license to […]
Outdoors
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Rescuers Face ‘Treacherous Terrain’ in Recovery Effort at Wedding Rock
The effort to recover the body of a 33-year-old Arcata woman who went missing Sunday night near Wedding Rock in Patrick’s Point State Park took most of Monday and included dozens of people. “Ground search crews and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter began searching for the hiker again on January 14 at 8 a.m.,” the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Earwigs
I have not been a big fan of earwigs ever since they ate the ceanothus moth I was trying to rear. Reading a bit about them, I found they indeed have some interesting and worthwhile features. The most common variety around here is the European earwig (Forficula auricularia). We called them “pincer bugs” when I […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Search Suspended for Missing Canadian Hiker
The search for a missing Canadian hiker was suspended this afternoon after four days of what the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office described as “intensive searching by crews from eight different agencies” that was hampered by “bad weather, high tides and large surf.” Rick Raymond Eastep of Ontario sent a text earlier this week reporting that […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
UPDATE: Search on for Missing Canadian Hiking the Lost Coast
UPDATE: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office identified the missing Canadian hiker as Rick Raymond Eastep of Ontario. The 32 year old apparently sent a text on Monday saying he had been injured but the message was not received until late Wednesday. An extensive ground search by numerous agencies is ongoing. PREVIOUS: As last night’s stormy […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Sailors and Queens in Winter
Winter time is a slow time for bugs. Being cold blooded the chemistry of life that powers them slows down. Many of their life cycles are adapted to spending the short cold days in their sedentary forms as eggs, larvae or pupae. Those that persist as adults mostly hide through the worst of it, emerging […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
State Staff Recommends Funding Final Leg of Bay Trail
Folks eagerly awaiting the completion of the Humboldt Bay Trail got a bit of a New Year’s gift this morning with the county’s announcement that state staff is recommending allocating a $13.3 million grant to finish the last 4-mile stretch of waterfront trail. The recommendations will come before the California Transportation Commission at its Jan. […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Insect Armageddon
I have had a lifelong interest in insects, collecting, observing, studying, and photographing them for more than 60 years. Looking back, I’ve noticed progressively fewer insects around my porch lights at night and far fewer splattered across the windshields of my various cars. While my evidence is merely anecdotal, others are making rigorous studies of […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
North Coast Night Lights: The Changing Milky Way
I think many people take the night sky for granted, not realizing all that is happening in our view. It’s the night sky, what is there to think about, right? When the weather is clear, it is full of stars, there is a moon, which is probably full or else it’s a crescent, and maybe […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Millipede by the Millimeter
I didn’t intend to spend all night working on a single photograph but a Eurasian millipede (Ophyiulus pilosus) trapped in a measuring cup was an opportunity to try some equipment in a new way. Instead of using the computer-controlled StackRail to move the focus point, I set it up to travel along the critter, acquiring […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Mysterious Light in the Sky and Smoke Trail Likely a Meteor
A mysterious light and what appeared be smoke trailing behind it blazed across the sky around 5:40 p.m. Residents of the North Coast as well as people in Reno, the Bay Area and beyond spotted the bright light followed by a curvy tail of smoke. Several sent us photos and video. Many at first thought […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
North Coast Night Lights: Cooks Valley Bridge
In 1993, I spent a year in Chicago. Even then I loved photographing at night; I have always been drawn to it. I would use either available light or introduce light of my own, painting it into a scene much as I do now. I wasn’t comfortable photographing with models then, confining myself mostly to […]