By Wendy Langhans Back-scratching versus Freeloading… If you go high enough into the mountains, you begin to see pine trees. If you go even higher, you begin to begin to see conifer forests.  And that’s where the back-scratching and freeloading begins.  But like all back-room deals, you can’t see it, because it happens underground. Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking ...

By Wendy Langhans Talk about being saved by a whisker.  I came this close to being ambushed last weekend at Towsley Canyon.  No, it wasn’t a mountain lion.  It wasn’t even an irate hiker.  It was….(cue dramatic music)…. a SPIDER! Like any good ambush, the story begins in a place of presumed peace and innocence.  And what could be more ...

By Wendy Langhans So just how much rain did we get on Sunday?  Some reports say over seven inches?  But my watering can is eight inches tall and on Monday morning it was full to the brim.  Several of my potted plants were waterlogged – I had to bail them out.  As I bailed, I started thinking – how much ...

By Wendy Langhans It’s been awhile, but I can still remember my skating teacher’s instructions for a toe loop: “Reach back with your leg, tap your toe pick into the ice, pull back and vault into the air.”  I was reminded of this the other day as I watched a video of a stotting mule deer:  straight legs, decent height, ...

By Wendy Langhans How many different varieties of apples are there?  A trip to the produce section of our local supermarkets only scratches the surface:  Red Delicious, Gala, Rome Beauty, Braeburn, Gravenstein and Baldwin.  According to the University of Illinois, there are over 7,500 cultivars (varieties) worldwide.  (I know botanical term can be confusing, but a cultivar is a variety ...

By Wendy Langhans Sometimes an idea is too good not to borrow.  Take, for example, the concept of signal-to-noise ratio.  Audiophiles are only too familiar with a low S/N ratio – the annoying hiss, crackle, and static that disrupts their favorite piece of music.  But others, included graphic designers, have “borrowed” this mathematical equation from electrical engineering and turned it ...

By Wendy Langhans OK – I admit it – I’m somewhat partial to red.  My first car, a used VW Fastback, was red.  My current car, a Mazda M3, is also red.  But I’m not the only one who is partial to red.  So are Hummingbirds.  Here’s just one example – a Costa’s Hummingbird approaching a Chuparosa flower.  This photo ...

By Wendy Langhans Have you noticed?  The days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter.  Last December 21, the night was about 14 1/2 hours long.  On Valentine’s Day, it will be about 13 hours long.  And by next June 21, it will be about 9 1/2 hours long. But do longer days have any other significance, besides ...

By Wendy Langhans A vivid flash of pink caught my eye as we drove past.  But almost as quickly as I asked, “Could you please pull over”, my husband was looking for a safe spot to stop.  We were driving along San Francisquito Canyon Road, enjoying a lovely spring morning.  I had brought my camera along, just in case we ...

By Wendy Langhans There’s an old saying -“Bad news travels fast.”  In the mid 1350’s the Bubonic plague, which began in Asia, spread to Europe along the trade routes.  The bacteria that caused it, Yersinia pestis, was spread by fleas and rats.  And in the summer of 1510, the world experienced the first “recognized” influenza pandemic.  It began in Asia ...