Photo by Mike Baird:     Surf Girls

Photo by Kevin Cole: Harmony Outhouse

Photo by Cleve Nash:   Cedar Waxwing

Photo by Earthly Images: Montana de Oro

Photo by Maggie Smith: Three Cormorants - Double-crested, Brandt, and Pelagic

Photo by Chuck Abbe: Back Tomorrow

Best Breakfast Around!

Behind the Badge by Richard Hannibal

Our recent Emergency Vehicle Show began the prior evening with a slow moving parade down the Embarcadero and through the downtown area. Like most parades—especially ones involving emergency vehicles—it is accompanied by occasional toots of sirens and air horns. This brief activity caused our police business and 9-1-1 lines to be inundated by concerned citizens wanting to know what was going on and, basically, if they should flee for their lives.  Read More

Best Friends by Malcolm Riordan, DVM

Well here they come.  Waves of kittens are headed our way.  Read More

California State Parks

Nature walks, school programs, and a listing of our local State Parks. And, the Otter Trailer is again at the Rock. Learn and play more.

Double Vision by By Shana Ogren

We usually celebrate birthdays and mourn death anniversaries.  But today, on the nine month anniversary of the death of my parent, Sandee, I both mourn and celebrate.  I continue to miss her, and I continue to sing to her and to dance to her song.  Read More

Far Horizons by John Bullaro

Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, and Rush Limbaugh—and others—preach to the choir that global warming, or climate change, is a hoax. Unfortunately millions of Americans sing in their choir. These duffers eschew science in favor of ratings and big salaries. They'll never talk about how in 1997, at the Conference on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, fifty-six Nobel Laureates signed on to the idea that climate change is real and the world leaders need to take action. Read More

Feel Better Forever by Brian Dorfman

This article focuses on medical misdiagnosis and treatment errors that I've recently witnessed.  In my last stint at the clinic there were four new cases that fell into this category.  As we saw a total of 10 new patients in that period, a full 40% were either misdiagnosed or provided ineffective treatment.  Read More

Grow, Learn, Eat by Gibsy Beckett

Kids, chickens, worms, beer, goats, neighbors, vegetables, and the promise of catching fish from paddleboards. These were the selling points my neighbors touted to win us a coveted spot in Sunset Magazine's latest "One Block Diet" competition.  The rules seemed simple enough: grow, brew, forage, or catch all the food to serve our families (within a neighborhood block) for one big feast on or before September 15, 2011. Read More 

Joanne Heaney, Los Osos Treasure by by Nicole Dorfman

Joanne's story began far from these ocean views in the river valley of the small Connecticut town where her father farmed tobacco, and then, with the coming of the Great Depression, potatoes.   Her early penchant for science—perhaps formed on the farm—eventually led her to study chemistry at Smith College in Massachusetts and finally to Stanford College in California.  Here Joanne abandoned science for the study of art and English that would serve as a foundation for the rest of her life's work. Read More 

Let's Go Green by Lawson Schaller

A food mile, simply put, is how far food travels to get to our plate.  Estimates vary, but here in the U.S. food for a typical meal travels roughly 1,000 to 2,000 miles.  Oddly enough, local food is not always more affordable.  On the other hand, the true cost to the environment is not always accounted for fully.  Beyond costs and resource allocation is the choice for more flavor and freshness.  More and more people are growing local. Read More 

Medical Myth Busting by Dr. Steven Sainsbury

Heart attacks are definitely one of our biggest fears. We have become a nation of joggers, dieters, and pill takers, much of this behavior directed towards avoiding "the big one." Yet many myths surround heart attacks, not the least of which is that in order to be having a heart attack, you have to feel crushing chest pain -- "Doctor, I feel like there is an elephant sitting on my chest." Read More

Observations of a Country Squire by George Zidbeck

Although born in Panama, I came to California when thirteen. I, along with my mother and three younger sibs, lived with my mother's youngest sister. Aunt Sophie, and her husband, Frank Johnson, then resided in a rural, unincorporated area of Riverside County—a place called Norco.  Read More

Surfing Out Of The Box by Paul Finley

We are living proof that going to  the beach does not have to stop when you have kids.  Yes, it gets a little bit more challenging and takes a bit of planing ahead—especially with little kids—but its completely doable. Read More

Take a Hike by Catherine Ryan Hyde

My plan for this morning was not to stay indoors and write this article.  My plan was to hike seven miles roundtrip from my house in Cambria, along Moonstone Beach boardwalk, down to Shamel Park, through Seaclift Estates and the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve  to tiny Lampton Cliffs Park.  And, of course, back again.  It would have been my third such trip in about a week, preparation for my next big hike:  My front door to the Ragged Point Inn.  (And not back again.  I have someone meet me there and drive me home.  I'm active, I'm not completely insane.) Read More

Under the Tongue by Christine Neilson

Santa Barbara's quiet Bath Street residential neighborhood calls to me to meander up the unlevel sidewalks peering into the collage of architectures. Suddenly I am taken aback by a tall hedge with a pathway opening. This certainly conjures up memories of the 1910 classic children's novel, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. What will be revealed behind this towering greenery? Read More

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Peregrine Falcon image on banner by Cleve Nash