3 Jul
Trillium
Frequent Photo
I’ll be out selling raffle tickets to benefit Heart of the Redwoods Hospice today (Friday the third) in front of Shop Smart in Redway. Come by on your way to stock up for the Fourth and help support a Sohum institution that almost every family will need someday.
30 Jun
Cross and Crow
Frequent Photo
The cross looms menacingly and the crow waits his chance.
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On a lighter note, does anyone local know where I took this?
28 Jun
Jumping at Three Falls
The Best Swimming Hole in the World
(Okay, maybe I’m biased)
Frequent Photo
There is a lot of great places to swim in Humboldt but this is my favorite.
26 Jun
Redwood
Frequent Photo
An important reason to support the Richardson Grove realignment is to help our local economy. Small Green businesses are hurt by the STAA regulations in ways that the large box stores aren’t. An excellent article byErin Tracy in the Times Standard, provided some hard facts on how the alignment would help producers of local products–especially those in the small to mid-size. Humboldt Creamery estimated that they could save a 10 % saving on shipping — around $600,000 if the company was able to use the STAA trucks. Sun Valley estimated that they would be able to cut back about 17% of their truck trips.
Other businesses have left the area that might have stayed should the Realignment have been in place already. In an article jammed with information (read it! It is excellent!) the North Coast Prosperity, an online business journal, states, “According to Humboldt County Economic Development Coordinator Jacqueline Debets, over the past couple of years manufacturers like Yakima, Calgon Carbon, Amulet Manufacturing and Premiere Meats have all cited transportation limitations as part of their reasoning behind relocation. ‘While we can’t get back the jobs we’ve lost to this restriction, we can save local jobs and companies from being forced to export their jobs if we make this fix,” Debets said, adding many manufacturers are more concerned that the new emissions legislation (AB 32) will eliminate the small trucks altogether, than they are about saving money.’”
An eloquent comment on an earlier post about Richardson Grove impressed me so much that I’m promoting it to guest post. The author, Todd Lake conveyed in a short couple paragraphs what I have been unable to say.
From what I understand Cypress Grove will need to relocate if this project can not be completed by 2010. This is due to new air quality/emissions requirements that will make currently operating, shorter, non staa trucks obselete. Without access thru Richardson Grove for staa trucks at that point there will not be a viable option for refrigerated shipping out of Humboldt. Cypress Grove is an incredible local company in that it supports good use of open space thru the purchase of goat milk and additionally does a great deal in establishing and promoting the often talked about Humboldt brand.
In terms of a larger economic context, what do people actually expect to happen here. Timber and fishing are basically gone as staple industries. I hear plenty of talk about light industry and green manufacturing, but without a way for business to ship there products competitively, how can we expect them to stay? Without the growth of these small businesses how can we expect to survive economically?
I guess my main issue is that this is sometimes labeled as a big box express lane, but without strong viable local industry, won’t we eventually be left as big box prey without any other alternatives? Furthermore, these large unwanted chains already have the ability to keep smaller trucks in their fleets just for access to our area.
Don’t fear the change. Embrace the possibilites.____________________
Note that the Save the Redwood League has approved the Realignment.
25 Jun
Stolen Photo
Humboldt Blogosphere meet Nathan Miers. This artist with a magical eye for detail caught my attention last month and I’ve been meaning to introduce him to you. His art has been tickling around in my mind since I first found it.
He began working in glass over 7 years ago out of the area. A few years later, he began coming to Humboldt and in 2007 he bought land near Harris.He has a glass studio in the Meadows Business Park but sells his marbles/glass balls online and his glass pipes out of Higher Consiousness operated by his partner, Josh Stone, near Stitch in Time and Branscomb Center. There must be something in the area because like Ernie, he has his own blog which features beautiful examples of his work.
Look for him at Reggae on the River. Also as he explained to me, “Feel free to stop in Higher Consciousness sometime and check out the glass in person – the pics usually don’t do as much justice as seeing the pieces with your own eyes.”
For a quick intro to his work though, pull aside the interweb and gaze into his magical “crystal” balls here. And more of his pipes here.
24 Jun
Tokin’
Concerned with health issues such as increases in HIV and drug overdoses, in 2001 Portugal decriminalized the possession of small amounts of street drugs–not just marijuana but heroin, LSD, etc. At the time the United Nations expressed skepticism that this would work. There was a fear that there would be an increase in drug tourism and drug use. However, according to a report recently released by the Cato Institute, “[Now] there is no real debate about whether drugs should once again be criminalized. More significantly, none of the nightmare scenarios touted by preenactment decriminalization opponents — from rampant increases in drug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a haven for “drug tourists” — has occurred..”
Just a few hours ago, a new report from the United Nations declares, “Portugal’s policy has reportedly not led to an increase in drug tourism…”It also appears that a number of drug-related problems have decreased.”
The Cahto Institute’s report explains that five years after the implementation of decriminialization, “…the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006.”
Common sense is now backed by hard facts. Let’s stop the violence and the wasted lives. Let’s decriminialize drug use.
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Hat Tip to
Olmanriver
See Also As it Stands
24 Jun
Fledge the Baby Swallow
Frequent Photo
The long black stretch of Sleek the cat pointed like an arrow towards him when we got home yesterday. Every muscle in her indicated his presence–a tiny swallow fledgling perched atop a trellis in my jasmines. Sleek licked her chops, beginning the climb towards a delicious feast. If I truly worshiped at the foot of Darwin, I would have ignored the duo and unloaded the car but I couldn’t help rescuing the poor flightless fellow and putting him out of her reach.
My son covered him in a washcloth and we left him for his parents’ to feed…hopefully. This morning, jaunty and cheerful, he greeted me with a wide open beak. His strength showed his parents’ had found and fed him. My son kept leaving pill bugs around his feet but I’m not sure these met his menu needs.
This afternoon I went outside to find the perch we had left him on empty. But I soon found him hopping up on a board. I scooped him up intending to put him back up high but with a whoosh he flew out of my hands. At first, he stayed low but swiftly he swept up into the air. Like a Disney movie, a small group of swallows swirled around him, chirping in joyous greeting. Then they all flew out of sight.
Nature can be brutal but, unexpectedly, she sometimes treats a reverent viewer to magic.
21 Jun
Quailing in the Dust
Frequent Photo
Mountain quail hide in brush and grasses and are rarely seen but I hear them all the time taunting me with their calls. This one took pity on me and let me capture it with my camera.
Happy First Day of Summer!
20 Jun
Peace
Frequent Photo
When bikers come to Humboldt for the Redwood Run, the resulting mix of ’60’s love and peace and biker black and tattoos goes together surprisingly well.
Below the fold are more photos from last Saturday’s 2009 Redwood Run.
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