Category Weekly Columns

This week’s crawly is a moth of a different color – rather several colors. Meet the omnivorous looper moth (Sabulodes aegrotata), we’ll call them “omni” for short.

If you are unfortunate enough to have Himalayan blackberry in your yard, you will thank me for this column – this goes double for female gardeners. Have I found a deal for you!

Everyone has a fish story to tell, and mine is uniquely original. I was living alone in a one-bedroom apartment on the shore of Clear Lake in California. Specifically, Lakeport, Calif. I had been hired as the sports editor for a three-section, bi-weekly newspaper, the Lake County Record-Bee and I was responsible for the eight-page sports section.

We hope you kept some pinecones after gathering them for our winter holiday cone-craft extravaganza, because this week we’ve got some fun-tastic Easter Cone-crafting ideas for you.

Bluebells have beautiful dainty, pendulous, tubular flowers that expand to a bell-shaped structure with flared lobes. Both our species are found in moist meadows, open forest areas and stream sides.

Bitty bug, big eyes, big benefit! Meet the big-eyed bug (Genus Geocoris).

At a mere 1/8 of an inch (3mm) the only big thing about big-eyed bugs are their eyes.

I love my dogs – but – I’m super ready for their collective case of Spring Fever to be over, and it isn’t even really spring yet!

Baseball season is coming and I’m ready for 162 games of relaxing at the ballpark with a transistor radio tuned into the game in one hand, a scorebook in the other and a cold glass of beer under my chair for between innings. My very first major league game was when I was barely old enough to go to school.