About a month ago, I got a letter in the mail from a termite company, Terminix, which began with the following: "Ants can be more harmful to your family than you think. That's because these monsters (and others, like cockroaches may carry more than a dozen kinds of bacteria, like strep and staph. …
It’s Springtime for Baby Rattlers and Other Snakes
We were at our San Diego home and one of our renter's cats caught a baby snake (which we of course saved) - and it got me thinking about the baby snakes joining the baby birds, rabbits and other mammals being born as spring ramps into full-time. I checked in with Dr. William Hayes, a herpetologist …
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Pesticides Negatively Affect Human Health
You've likely seen the headlines the last few days. In our local paper, the Los Angeles Times "Pesticides suspected in mass die-off of bees" (article no longer available online) discussed mounting evidence that pesticides negatively impact bees. I've written two prior posts on the collateral damage …
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Animal Tracks: Bear, Coyotes and…. a robin
People in snowy climates are lucky in one regard - they can see great animal tracks after snowfalls. Here in So. California I need to drive a half hour up to the mountains. The last two times I've seen some interesting tracks in the snow. On yesterday's hike to a favorite area of mine (Jenks Lake …
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Go Organic to Help the Bees
One could say I’m on a bee kick. A number of my articles mention bees and despite being allergic to them – the last time I got stung I ended up in the ER, where I left with an epinephrine prescription for constant carry - they fascinate me. Our native plants attract them, the hive under …
Favorite Plants for Attracting Birds/Butterflies (California/Southwest)
In a follow-up to my post (Favorite Plants for Attracting Birds/Butterflies (Midwest/East) here are some favorites from two of our homes, both landscaped with natives and other wildlife-attracting plants. (See Our Conversion to Low Water Landscaping). I also asked two friends in Arizona, for their …
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