Tag: Nature

See sea lion in Old Sac

Here’s a good reason to visit Old Sac this weekend:

A visitor from the bay has decided the River City is a tasty place to visit. A sea lion has taken up residence on a Sacramento dock.

The sea lion arrived Wednesday night, deciding this spot on a dock under the Tower Bridge was his.

No word on whether this lion of the sea was the same hungover one that tried to visit Arden Mall last year.   In any case, come on by this weekend. Have a few beers, buy some antiques, eat some candy, and say hello to Mr. Sea Lion. 

You’ll be glad you did.

How do you beat the heat?

Let’s not beat around the bush here, Sacramento: it’s hot. But life goes on. If you aren’t a shut-in, chances are you can’t spend 24/7 laying on your kitchen floor or in an ice bath. So let’s hear it; how are you beating the heat, Sacramento? Here are some of our favorites, but we’d love to hear more. Read on.
Continue reading “How do you beat the heat?”

Here it comes

101 … 105 … 109 … 109 … 108 … 109 …100 … and then a cooling trend next week, all the way down to 98. Read it and sweat.

I have to admit to feeling like I brought this all down on us, after spending the better part of an hour talking to my native San Francisco pal about how Sacramento really isn’t hell on summer earth, touting the Delta breezes, lots of shade, two rivers, etc. “Well,” she says. “At least your housing’s affordable,” which is something only a San Franciscan would say.

Fill up the kiddie pools, folks, it’s going to be a long week.

Run river

Is there any doubt the best thing about Sacramento is that which is also the most dangerous? I write, of course, about the rivers, so high at New Year’s that we watched the levees anxiously, images of New Orleans fresh in our minds. So beautiful now, flowing through river parkways still green with the rains and exploding with wildflowers.

Rivers, floods and levees… these have always been the story of Sacramento. Me? I worry more about a little creek than a big river, backing up as my house does to what by this time of year is little more than a smelly dribble. But at least three times in my lifetime, this little dribble became a torrent, once taking out part of Cal Expo and twice putting Woodside under water.

When the rains fall and the rivers rise, I watch the creek.
Continue reading “Run river”

Sacramento Zoo to teach about science

The Bee reported today that the Sacramento Zoo will include lessons on evolution as a part of their ongoing lecture series. Opponents voiced their concern for a lack of “alternative theories” and preferred for zoo docents to educate visitors by simple pointing and saying, “Look at the pretty animal that Jesus made for you.”

Here is the schedule of events:

* Feb. 22: “Science and Non-Science: The Truth Behind Intelligent Design,” on why intelligent design is fundamentally nonscientific, and flaws in intelligent design arguments, by Maureen Stanton, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis.

* March 22: “The Hard Evidence For Evolution,” on how fossil finds support evolutionary theory, by Richard Cowen, paleontologist and UC Davis professor emeritus of geology.

* April 26: “History of Evolutionary Thought,” on the people, politics and debate of the 19th-century era when Charles Darwin published the seminal book on evolution, “The Origin of Species,” by Robin Whittall, zoo education director.

* All lectures are on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is $8 for members, $9 for the general public. Teachers may qualify for discounted admission of $5. For more information, call (916) 264-5889 or see http://www.saczoo.com

Sign o’ the Times

Coming into work this morning I noticed a homeless man pushing a homeless woman in a wheelchair. A pretty common sight when you live/work in the downtown area. What struck me about this particular pair was the effort this man was putting into keep everything together. They had a dog on a leash that was swaying from side to side which was making it difficult for him to keep the chair on track. Their belongings were piled so high he was unable to see clearly. All the while trying to maintain a lit cigarette without using his hands.

So they finally stop at the light at 29th & K. I look over and see that the women is holding a cup of coffee (what looked to be Starbucks, of course) and is reading a magazine. I had to look closely to see that she was reading People magazine. Yes, as you would expect in the year 2006, homeless folks are also curious as to why Brad and Angelina are moving so fast.

The water, she is rising

That SMiller guest post at Heckasac got me going like a three-chord Nar song. But I’m kickin it family style in the 820, so all I want to do is open a forum for discussion of the craziest local spots to watch the rivers rising. I nominate the Northgate offramp on 160, which, if you notice on your way back to midtown from returning that sweater at Sears, is almost completely covered.