According to this LA County Sheriff Dept. website, “Black Bears were introduced into the San Gabriel Mountains in 1933. They are all descendants of 11 bears deported from Yosemite National Park for being troublemakers.”

In order to get a driver’s license in the state of California, you must have a visual acuity (keenness of vision) of 20/40. By those standards, rats would not be able to drive.

Everyone, at some time, has experienced an unexpected “zap” of static electricity.  In our house, these “cat nap zaps” usually occur on Saturday afternoons and involve cozy woolen afghans and furry cats.  But who knew that zapping was already going on all around us, especially in our flower gardens?

Last week I led a wildflower hike along Wiley Canyon, part of the Towsley Canyon View Loop Trail.  The Wild California Lilac (Ceanothus) was in full bloom, so much so that at times it seemed as though we were walking through a bluish-purple haze.  And if you looked closely at the blossoms, you could see that the bees were hard at work, gathering nectar and pollen.