Archive for December, 2007
Monday, December 31st, 2007
‘Eco-fascism’ in the Point Reyes National Seashore
At the foot of steps climbing from my parking area to my cabin, a palm tree stands as a memorial to the late conservationist Margot Patterson Doss of Bolinas (1920-2003). Margot was a San Francisco Chronicle outdoors columnist, a Bay Area-hikes docent on tv’s Evening Magazine, and an author of 14 books. She was also [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in General News,History,Inverness,Photography,Point Reyes Station,West Marin nature,Wildlife by DavidMitchell
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007
Guess who came to Christmas dinner
By tradition, the holidays are a time for seeing old friends and new. Here are some of the visitors I saw over Christmas. The population of wild turkeys around my cabin keeps getting higher. Nine toms and 35 hens marched around my fields on Saturday while sentries such as this kept watch from pine trees. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General News,Photography,The Point Reyes Light Newspaper,West Marin nature,Wildlife,agriculture by DavidMitchell
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007
Yuletide greetings from Santa Claws
From our dinner table to yours, Santa Claws and I wish you a Merry Christmas. To readers of this blog, I offer the following yuletide greetings, which were forwarded to me by a friend. I would credit the author, but I don’t know who he or she is. Please accept without obligation, express or implied, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Dave Mitchell,Personal,Photography,Point Reyes Station,West Marin nature,Wildlife by DavidMitchell
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
Assemblyman Jared Huffman’s ominous mailer
“Simply by being compelled to keep constantly on his guard, a man may grow so weak as to be unable any longer to defend himself.” — Nietzsche If bill payments were among the letters this motorist mailed yesterday along Lucas Valley Road, he was risking identity theft, Assemblyman Jared Huffman warns. A few weeks back [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Dave Mitchell,General News,Marin County by DavidMitchell
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
Nature’s Two Acres XXII: They’re hundreds of times more deadly than cyanide… and headed this way
A salamander to die for. The weekend’s rains have led to the start of an annual migration across my fields. California newts have begun the long trek from the Giacomini family’s stockpond just east of my pasture to Tomasini Creek a third of a mile to the west. Newts travel so slowly they’re easy to [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General News,Photography,Point Reyes Station,West Marin nature,Wildlife by DavidMitchell
Sunday, December 16th, 2007
Non-native species stops traffic in Point Reyes Station
A guineafowl surprised motorists and pedestrians late Sunday afternoon by wandering around the south end of Point Reyes Station’s main street. When I first spotted the Helmeted guineafowl, it was pecking on the sidewalk and in the grass between the Coastal Marin Real Estate and West Marin Medical Center buildings. The bird subsequently stopped traffic [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General News,Point Reyes Station,West Marin nature,agriculture by DavidMitchell
Saturday, December 15th, 2007
Blackouts bedevil Point Reyes Station area
A motorist turns around just before sunset Saturday upon discovering the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road barricaded at Highway 1. The road was closed all day after a car crash brought down powerlines. Two power outages in and around Point Reyes Station blacked out the town for approximately an hour and a half Friday evening and caused [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General News,Marin County,Point Reyes Station by DavidMitchell
Friday, December 14th, 2007
Urban legends
Are there really alligators in the New York City sewer system? The question last week sparked quite a discussion in my cabin, prompting me to dig out a column on urban legends I wrote for the old Point Reyes Light two and a half years ago. Here it is again slightly updated just to remind [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in General News,History by DavidMitchell
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
Nature’s Two Acres XXI: Coyote influx benefits some birds around Point Reyes Station
It seems that a fair number of coyotes are conducting their mating-season romances around Point Reyes Station this year. In the past three weeks, I’ve heard them howling almost every night right outside my cabin, typically with another coyote howling back. (This one along Limantour Road near the Sky Trailhead is the third coyote my [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General News,History,Marin County,Photography,Point Reyes Station,West Marin nature,Wildlife by DavidMitchell
Sunday, December 9th, 2007
Winter Moon Fireside Tales — Undiscovered gem draws four ticketholders opening night (significantly more Sunday)
“O jest unseen, inscrutable, invisible/ As a nose on a man’s face or a weathercock on a steeple!” — Shakespeare The cast of Winter Moon Fireside Tales (from left): Susan Santiago, Eileen Puppo, Christina Lucas, Marta Zanovollo, Norma Schliftman, Laura Alderdice (who is also musical director), and Nina Howard. The director (not pictured) is Tina [...]
