Wordless Wednesday: Donkeys need walks too

I spotted a couple of women walking their donkeys on one of my walks this week. Could this be the most California thing ever?

scrap from a handwritten page. Written in copperplate is the date February 2, 1910

What was Dr. Hess’s Poultry Panacea?

One of the side effects of having wildfires reach within a dozen miles of your home is that it tends to focus your mind on completing…

black t-shirt with words "Vote: Declare yourself" on it

Election 2020 is upon us. Do you have a plan to vote?

I promise not to make political posts a regular event on this blog, but voting is a civic duty, not simply a political one. In this post, I’ll tell you about some resources that can help you make voting as easy as possible for you and the other voters in your family.

A long green tube with a bulb on the end used to slowly dispense water for potted plants lies in the middle of my back deck.

Wordless Wednesday: The curious incident of the squirrel in the night-time

The squirrels appear to have had a good night.

Wordless Wednesday: Behold the fierce predator

My cat’s (planned and much needed) weight loss has stalled, so this week I tried adding morning exercise into the mix. It did not go well.

My (@shalahowell) tweet from August 21: "There's a squirrel in my backyard frantically digging a hole to stash an emergency horde of nuts and all I can think is "Same Dude Same"

What a difference air quality makes

The wildfires in Northern California have sent a ton of smoke our way this week. While talking to my uncle this week, I found myself unable to explain adequately how weird the light has been as a result. Fortunately, my habit of taking multiple pictures of every flower I manage to grow means that I have a couple of photos that capture it.

Wordless Wednesday: The best part of remote learning is getting to have lunch with your cat

School is underway here at Caterpickles Central. On the first day back to school, Canelo joined The Thirteen-Year-Old for lunch to hear all about it.

Pandemic Diary 17 August 2020: My Shelter-in-Place Birthday

My birthday looked pretty different this year due to shelter-in-place, but I still loved every minute of it.

What are we going to do about school?

There are as many opinions on when and how to reopen schools as there are people in the discussion. How can parents parse all of this competing information to figure out the least imperfect option for their families when it comes to sending their kids to school this fall?