Look at this little guy all nestled down in the grass like we can’t see him! We were hiking through the hills outside of Ettersburg when we almost stepped on him, he was so still and quiet. He’s not going to move until his mom comes back. The doe pushed him down into the grass […]
wildlife
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Road Not (Yet) Taken
In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a veritable tsunami of public-access improvements sweeping Humboldt County: the Arcata Ridge, Humboldt Bay and Hikshari’ trails; the McKay Tract; the Eel River Estuary Preserve — wait, the what? The delta of the Eel River, extending from Table Bluff to Loleta, Fernbridge and Centerville, is a subtly beautiful agricultural […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
May To-Do List
Ah, can you feel it? Summer is in the air, with the birds tweeting, plants bursting into bloom and that inexorable itch to get out in the garden and plant something — anything! The intersection of fine weather and a little less rain has me dusting off my hori-hori in anticipation of planting all those […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Afterlife
Reviews HEAVEN IS FOR REAL. So it’s right out there in the clumsily worded title. Although the premise of the movie — that a 4-year-old visited heaven, sat on the lap of the Christ and met the sister he never knew he had because she died in utero — includes a crisis of faith, ultimately […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Where the Wild Things Are
I recently wrote a column for the Journal about the river otter, one of the many adorable, cuddly denizens of the North Coast. “They’re so cute,” several readers commented, seeing the photo in the story. Then the April issue of National Geographic arrived in our mailbox with an article about our desire to bring wild […]
Posted inNews
Ridding Toxic Killers
On Tuesday, California passed a regulation restricting retail sales of certain rat poisons, such as d-Con. Soon, only licensed, certified or county permitted application professionals will be able to use them. The restrictions don’t go into effect until July 1. But by Friday morning, at least one local retailer already was sweeping those products from its shelves. […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Otter Spotter
While hiking the King Range, I saw a flash of brown just up Cooksie Creek. Then a splash. The small, slicked head of a Lontra canadensis created a gentle wake as it spiraled upstream away from me. The river otter kept a wary eye but never stopped its aquabatics until I entered the creek to […]
Posted inNews
Bears Repeating
Annette Graebner is reinforcing the French doors in her Honeydew home with plywood. Last January she returned from town to find the refrigerator ripped open, kitchen cabinets torn apart and broken glass covering the floor. An urban dweller would suspect a burglar. Graebner knew right away that it was a bear. “After I cleaned up […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Great Deer Roundup
The hunger of deer is no greater than the fury of gardeners who seek to thwart the peaceful vegetarians. Just ask the Humboldt Botanical Garden’s deer wranglers, sturdy volunteers who scrambled up steep ravines, picked off bloodsucking ticks and nursed pokes and scratches from blackberry brambles in the great deer round up of 2005. While […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Providing Water for Wildlife
There’s little that irritates me more than going to the garden center and seeing an array of gorgeous, well-made bird baths that are all completely and utterly useless. It seems that the manufacturers of such things have never really researched or even given the most cursory amount of thought to what qualities a bird might […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Not the Lion’s Fault
Editor: “Ranger kills Mountain Lion” (Blog Jammin’, May 16) sums up the end result, but the article ignored the fundamental issue that a loose and unsupervised dog created the situation and responsibility for the “attack” belongs to the dog owner. The mountain lion “chased” the dog because the loose dog was a legitimate threat to […]
