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, […]
Snails
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Topsnail House Makeover
All the houses in my 1980s-built neighborhood were painted in just a few dull repetitive colors. They are essentially all the same. But I dream of living in a neighborhood with a full spectrum of vibrant colors in every combination. So, I did something about it by painting my house using the color palette of […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Witch/Fossil Hunt!
I apologize in advance to anyone who didn’t want to be transported to this alternate universe just now. But you can relax because the only difference between this new universe and your old one is that I was elected president of the United States in 2016. My presidency started out OK. But then someone noticed […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Violet Snail Conspiracy
When it comes to snail appreciation, there are three types of people. Type 1 people display no curiosity about snails and don’t want to learn anything new anyway. Fortunately, these shit-for-brains wouldn’t read this newspaper, so I haven’t offended anyone yet. Type 2 people are snail-curious and may actively seek information about snails but they’ll […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Small, Slow-moving Targets
Rainy day locals Head’s up: It’s tick season again. It seems they like damp weather. My archives show photos of them primarily in April to May and December to January. In the last week, I’ve pulled one off a dog and one off a friend who had one on her arm. Even if you haven’t […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Rainy Day Locals
Head’s up: It’s tick season again. It seems they like damp weather. My archives show photos of them primarily in April to May and December to January. In the last week, I’ve pulled one off a dog and one off a friend who had one on her arm. Even if you haven’t been outdoors where […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Ground Beetles
Tip over a rock and you’re likely to encounter something. Frequently, you’ll see a black beetle a little smaller than a pumpkin seed scurry away. They really don’t like the light. These are type of ground beetle, members of the family carabidae, one of the largest families of animals in the world. They are predators, […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Glow Worm vs. Snail
Tonight I counted four glow worms (Pterotus intergrippinis) under my redwood trees. I have counted as many as 27 in the leaf litter beneath my small 20-foot-by-50-foot grove (roughly 1/50th of an acre.) The first ones I ever saw were beneath redwoods at Grizzly Creek Campground. So far I’ve seen them in every grove I’ve […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: New Spirals
I think the best and most frustrating thing about nature study is that one thing almost always leads to several more, and each one of those leads to still more. I have a particular fondness for glowing things, especially our local glow worms, Pterotus obscuripinnes. Studying them I learned they feed almost exclusively on small […]