Archive for October, 2008
Monday, October 27th, 2008
The fun and anxiety of preparing for a disaster
Getting ready for disaster is both anxiety-ridden and fun, as some of us in West Marin learned in the last few days. One particularly fun event was the West Marin Disaster Council’s annual pancake breakfast in the Point Reyes Station firehouse.
Retired County Administrator Mark Riesenfeld of Point Reyes Station watches Inverness volunteer firefighter Ken [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Dave Mitchell, General News, Marin County, Point Reyes Station by DavidMitchell
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
Porky Pig, Demosthenes, Joe Biden, and ‘K-K-K-Katy’
This has been an unlikely presidential campaign in many respects, particularly because new facts about the candidates keep coming to light. Here’s one that came to me in a strangely circuitous fashion.
The night before last week’s full moon, I happened to be outside at twilight when the moon rose over the hill above my cabin. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General News, History by DavidMitchell
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
The political zoo
Just what does that gull see?
One of the odder results of Senator John McCain’s choice for a vice presidential running mate is that Americans are learning about a previously obscure but medically recognized brain disorder. The disorder, which can lead to clinical anxiety, causes sufferers to see things after they’re no longer there.
Ironically, the name [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Photography, West Marin nature, Wildlife, agriculture by DavidMitchell
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
Nature’s Two Acres Part XXXV: Mr. Squirrel
A male Western gray squirrel as seen from my bedroom window one morning two weeks ago.
I’d always thought of squirrels as basically benign creatures albeit a bit, shall we say, squirrelly. But then came a BBC report in December 2005: Russian squirrel pack ‘kills dog.‘
Quoting Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, the BBC reported; “Squirrels have bitten to [...]
