When gardening, you have probably seen large, fuzzy, yellow and black bumble bees zipping from flower to flower, collecting pollen and nectar to bring back to their nests. Perhaps you have also seen them in January or February and wondered what business a bee has flying around in winter. Nearly all the approximately 1,600 bee […]
Life + Outdoors
Posted inField Notes
In the Beginning
“A good scientific theory is one that allows us to calculate the results of many observations from few assumptions.” — Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder Hossenfelder’s concise statement explains why the Genesis account — Earth and Heavens created out of nothing in six days — has no appeal for scientists looking to understand the cosmos. And why […]
Posted inGet Out
A Running Legacy at the Trinidad to Clam Beach Run
The 60th annual Trinidad to Clam Beach Run in Honor of Ford Hess returned Feb. 7, followed by a party for the roughly 1,000 who ran, jogged or walked the scenic 5.75-mile course beginning at Saunders Park in Trinidad. Participants crossed very little water this year in Little River at Moonstone Beach, and finished at Clam […]
Posted inField Notes
Cermeño’s Shipwreck
The European settlement of what we now know as the city of Trinidad began when two Spanish Navy captains, Bruno de Hecata (commanding Santiago) and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra (commanding Sonora), landed there on June 9, 1775. Two days later on Trinity Sunday — hence the name — they erected a wooden […]
Posted inWashed Up
Moon Snail Pie
I was walking along Humboldt Bay when I heard, “Psst. Hey!” A Lewis’s moon snail (Neverita lewisii) was calling me from a shallow pool in the tidal mudflat. The snail said, “I want to enter the big baking contest. But those jerk-offs will never let a snail win. So, can you pose as me? Plus, […]
Posted inField Notes
Coincidences (Not That Amazing)
“It is no great wonder if in the long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur.” — Plutarch “I’ve been looking for you my whole life!” I chortled, running around the table to give my birthday twin a big embrace. She reciprocated, but barely — she […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Imagine Possibilities. Keep Them Real.
Do you already have a wish for your outdoor activities in 2026? In this column three years ago, I proposed to toss the word “resolution” in favor of “wish” (“Make a Wish Instead of a Resolution,” Jan. 5, 2023). While both require some work on our part, making a wish offers a more positive perspective. […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
No More Falls!
A journey to increasing bone strength Though I wasn’t very physical as a kid, I became an “adult-onset” lover of fitness in my 20s, and have enjoyed walking, running, hiking and exploring the outdoors ever since. So in 2017, when I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, I couldn’t believe it. Two years later, I fell and […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
A Colorful Winter Garden
Winter is here on the North Coast, and with it come cloudy days, bare-branched deciduous trees, and a muting of nature’s hues. But we can still enjoy our gardens and yards throughout the year by making December through February more colorful and interesting with some carefully chosen native plants (and one non-plant). While most conifers […]
Posted inSeriously?
New Food Pyramid FAQ
Since Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched our new food pyramid, we’ve gotten a lot of questions. As the architect of this pyramid, I’ve prepared a list of frequently asked questions, answered to the best of my ability with the time I have left. Why are we back to a […]
Posted inGet Out
Listers and Big Years
One of the best films of 2025 was a documentary you’ve probably never heard of (unless you’re a birder). It’s Listers, a low-budget gem that raced through the birding community like suet through a Downy Woodpecker, though you don’t have to be a birder to enjoy it. The film, which takes its name from the […]
Posted inField Notes
New Year Miscellany
6174 Self-taught Indian mathematician D.R. Kaprekar (1905-1986) discovered this curious result in 1955. Take any four-digit number with at least two distinct digits, write the digits first in descending, then in ascending order, and subtract one from the other. Repeat with the resulting number, and again if necessary. Within seven iterations, you’ll always arrive at […]