Posts Categorized: Uncategorized

“Come gather round people wherever you roam/And admit that the waters around you have grown.” —Bob Dylan For the first few days of the coronavirus crisis, I was in a mild state of shock, and I dealt with the stress mostly by cracking jokes. Yesterday, though, the cobwebs in my head cleared, and here’s what… Read more »

I’ve always been fascinated by Mother Nature’s deadliest creatures. When I was a boy, I loved sharks, snakes, tigers—the more fearsome, the better. My tastes are more genteel now, tempered by the sands of time and tide. Here’s some beneficial mountain bugs you’ll be happy to see: Snakeflies—These sleek flying insects prey on your most… Read more »

Our mountain’s most hated critter has a way of showing up in the darnedest places… just ask a guy with a backed up colon.  I’m standing in front of a community bulletin board in Ojai, California—that famed epicenter of New Age thinking—and I’m looking over an assortment of fliers promoting “Colonic Cleansing” and “Primal Scream… Read more »

I feel it coming, it’s skipping and jumping its way to our mountain—it’ll be here in the blink of an eye. Bolstered by the Thanksgiving and Christmas storms, Mother Nature’s most fertile season—spring—is almost here. Is your home ready for the coming explosion of birds and bees and bugs and rodents? Not sure? Here’s all… Read more »