Miscellany...

When I showed up for Friday's fieldwork gig, I was handed a copy of Metro Santa Cruz by someone who works for the county. This article on disappearing salmon is mostly accurate and actually not too bad for a freebie rag. It mentions several people I work with on an almost daily basis, together with noted Central Coast researchers, Sean Hayes and Bruce MacFarlane of NOAA. When the crisis with the coho first hit and no one really knew wtf was going on, I heard Bruce give a presentation at a meeting wherein he first shared what he and the others had found with regard to tracking ocean conditions. These guys are on the cutting edge of what's going on with the fish around here, and I feel really lucky to be able to pick up my phone and call them when I have questions, or even offer my help.

The other thing mentioned in the article is an off-channel pond on a little creek called San Vicente. The creek is immediately south of the town of Davenport which is little more than a wide place in the road with a spectacular view... but anyway. The article quotes NOAA ecologist Kit Crump as saying that when they approached the site in 2001 it was as a "take" case, meaning coho and steelhead were presumed to have been harmed and/or killed by being swept into the pond. Until they seined it took scales to age the fish, and determined that all the huge, fat, healthy fish in there were young of the year and about 30% bigger than fish who rear normally in the stream! Unheard of! Preposterous! They checked again the following year... same deal. Pond full of fat, happy juvenile salmonids, going against what every biologist had been taught to think about where steelhead and salmon prefer to rear. It made this little pond (an old agricultural diversion pond) into quite the controversy in our world, for so many reasons.

According to this year's preliminary surveys by NOAA, coho returns were indeed as awful as everyone had feared. On the two streams presumed to be the strongest coho streams, they had oh, maybe 30 juveniles seen on one stream, 50 on the other. On tiny little San Vicente Creek? A hundred and eighty six. Wow!! The importance of that tiny little pond suddenly skyrocketed in everyone's importance.

On September 15, a project to do depth maintenance (euphemism for "dredge") and install a sluice/sediment gate for the pond so inflows can be regulated was begun. In addition to coho, we also have red-legged frogs there and potentially San Francisco garter snakes. So, to sum up, we're affecting a jurisdictional wetland that is full of listed species. A nightmare of permitting loopholes, restrictions and pitfalls that took months to navigate. It has not been fun, but our team has kept its eyes on the prize all this time, and our project is now 3/4 done in time for this year's rainy season. The coho in the stream this year will have a high flow refuge in the pond that will keep them from being swept downstream and out to sea (killed) and a place to hang & eat themselves into food comas come springtime.

It's been a really busy, exhausting few weeks. We started sampling on September 19 and really haven't stopped. For me this means long days that start before dawn and end after dark, hard work, hoofing it in sometimes many miles to sampling sites in remote locations, bad food for lunch and the fear that I can never carry enough water to slake my constant thirst.

I still owe a good friend an apology for pulling a disappearing act on a trail run we were supposed to do last weekend that got pre-empted by nonstop sampling. Maybe it will make her feel better if I tell her that by Sunday evening three things had happened: 1) I had gotten in an accident with my state-issued vehicle, 2) been jokingly accused of steppin out by the SO because I am simply never home anymore 3) being not-so-jokingly accused of treating the house like a hotel, i.e. leaving my gear and clothes everywhere, abdicating all my normal household chores (which for my compulsive neatnik and also uber-busy love is a cardinal sin...heh). All I can do is grit my teeth and ride it out because this is how it's going to be for the entire month of October... between sampling season and red-legged frog monitoring for my little project mentioned above my life is pretty much spoken for.

So, M, if you are reading this, please know that I have not forgotten, I am still coming up with new ways to beg for forgiveness and you will have your pound (or two) of flesh! :0D

Wonder is all around us, we have only to look.

From Penitencia Creek, an urban stream flowing through Alum Rock Park in the east foothills of San Jose.



Steelhead yearling and steelhead young of year. They are badly infested with a copepod parasite called "blackspot" - it seems to be related to water temperature and flow conditions. It can weaken or, at levels like this, kill them. Pray to the rain gods for an early onset to winter, please.



Life is like a box of chocolates... you just never know what you're going to get. Like this nearly two-foot-long adult female steelhead. She is an ocean fish, came in with last winter's rains. From the Pacific Ocean she entered via the Golden Gate, smelled her way down to the bottom of the Bay near Milpitas, where Coyote Creek empties into the swampy marshlands in between salt ponds, then fought her way up lower Coyote and into Penitencia Creek, all the way up over several significant drop structures... and maybe, if she was lucky, there was a male already here waiting. Or not... perhaps that was why she stayed, waiting for a male to fertilize the thousands of eggs she'd carried inside her all that distance. She waited too long... and when the rains abruptly stopped in early March and flows dropped, she was trapped in upper Penitencia Creek. She made her way to the deepest, coldest pool she could find, so she could slow her metabolism and wait.... and wait.... and wait. She ate nearly every other fish unlucky enough to be in the pool with her, trying to make it through the summer, all the while losing weight, losing energy, as temperatures warmed and her food supply dwindled. She was so close, so very close... she had only recently died, didn't have a mark on her. RIP girl... so damn sorry we didn't find you in time to help you.

Only about 10 yards upstream in a thicket of tree roots and aquatic plants, the shocker went on, and this flew out into the middle of the stream:

"Ack, WTF? It's a red-legged frog! The last one was reported here in the mid-sixties!" Looks like we've got them again, because this is a subadult female. So typical in this business... get all bummed out and sad by something like that magnificent steelhead we were too late to save, only to be buoyed up by this one. If frogs are expanding their range, that means something is going right. Let's keep it up...

By the way, if you are in the south Bay and want to watch steelhead jumping and maybe even spawning in Alum Rock Park, wait until February or so and head over there after a good hard dump of rain when the creeks are up. Go into the park and drive all the way up to the visitor center. Park and hang out near the bridge that spans the creek. Maybe you'll get lucky. But remember, steelhead are threatened, which means they are protected by state and federal law and it is illegal to handle them or interfere with their activities in any way, unless you have a special permit. So do not approach them or try to catch them. Just sit back and enjoy the show. If you see one in distress and you live in California, call CalTIP at 1 888 DFG-CALTIP (888 334-2258), 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thanks for helping protect our resources.

Deadline for comments on proposed ESA changes extended to OCTOBER 15

In an earlier blog, I asked anyone who reads this to please lodge your comments with the US Fish & Wildlife Service about changes that are being proposed to the Endangered Species Act.

Here's the relevant paragraph from the earlier post. If you want to read the whole thing, it's just a few posts down if you're in the mood to scroll.

"Here is a link to the US Fish & Wildlife Service's website with the exact language changes being proposed downloadable in PDF or text format. It's an incredibly dry, nearly incomprehensible legalese read, so here's a link to the Washington Post article on the topic that explains things pretty well."

Please have a look here, on the NRDC's website, to file an online comment letter and let them know you oppose these changes and why. The NRDC will print out each online letter they receive and hand-deliver them to the USFWS.

Thanks again. I've been sampling all day today but I promise some fun pics in the morning, so please take a moment if you haven't already. Sorry to keep harping on this but it's simply too important to take a casual stance.

The decline and fall of the pacific salmon

If you haven't been living under a rock for the past year or so, you have to know that this year's salmon return in California was nothing short of disastrous. Here in central California, there are two native species of salmon: coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytcha). Coho inhabit the coastal streams and chinook favor the central valley streams. For both species, the number of fish coming in to spawn (called "returns") varied from zero to less than one-third of what was expected.

This is a male coho salmon. Note the bright red coloration and the large, hooked jaw. These characteristics are only present on the male.


This is a male chinook (or "king") salmon. This is what you usually get when you order salmon in a restaurant. This is also a spawning male, with a hooked jaw and the red coloration.

The differences are in size (chinook can get up into the hundreds of pounds) and coloration. Coho are also called "silver salmon" because of their silvery undertones. The chinook is darker, almost green, beneath his bright spawning colors. He's also got comma-shaped dorsal speckles on his back and fin. There are other differences, but we can stop there.

All I know is what I see.... or don't see. And this past winter (2007-2008), I didn't see any coho in my streams. None. That hadn't happened to me ever, not in the past ten years.

Coho have a rather rigid, three-year life cycle (under normal conditions without hatchery influence, then things change a bit). This means that when a coho comes back to its natal stream to spawn, it is invariably three years old, and it will be breeding only with other coho that are also three years old. They form what are known as "year classes", which means that what happened to coho in 2005 is going to directly impact what happens to coho three years later, in 2008. In central California, the 2002-2005-2008 year class was the strongest year class. It had good solid numbers and was in the best shape of the three. We were expecting to see coho all over the place last winter, the way we had in 2005, 2002 and every three years prior. We were stunned when none showed up at all. What the hell happened?

Most scientists agree that the crash was inevitable. A very lively discussion takes place on this blog: http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2008/07/11/realityaboutsalmon/

Everything from habitat loss to global climate change to human overpopulation is tagged as a culprit. And these are some of the top minds in fisheries management debating this (with a few token reactionaries thrown in to alleviate the tedium of fact exchange). Sadly, I doubt you will find our Republican VP nominee taking part in these discussions since they involve neither lipstick, nor guns, nor fuck-me pumps.

In my neck of the woods, it was all about poor ocean conditions. All of the little salmon, newly spawned in 2004 and hatched out in 2005, swam happily downstream in the spring expecting to gorge themselves on all of that delicious krill that exists because of the cold, nutrient-rich, upwellings that occur off the California coast and that drive the entire ecosystem immediately offshore. Only thing was, in 2005... the upwelling never came. The result: starvation and reproductive failure in almost every near-shore dependent species of fish, bird and mammal. And that includes juvenile salmon parr. Steelhead use the ocean much differently than coho do (steelhead are immediately far-ranging, coho stick close to shore until their 2nd year of life), so they were relatively unaffected by this phenomenon and their numbers have remained relatively strong.

But for how long?

Predictions are that the pendulum of the Pacific Decadal Oscillationhas swung back around again and that conditions should drastically improve off our shores for the coming year.

Time will tell. When the coho come back, I'll be here waiting for them.

Please comment on proposed changes to Endangered Species Act - Deadline OCT 15

The Bush Administration's Dept. of the Interior has decided to act on their belief that agencies like the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service are duplicitous, superfluous and about as necessary as a silly toesie on a rodent. (Trust me on that last part, I'll explain later.)

Please have a look at what the Bushies want to do and tell them NO. Go here, to the NRDC's website, to file an online comment letter, which they will print and deliver to the Fish & Wildlife Service. Even though this proposal supposedly does not require Congressional approval (WTF???), write your congressperson anyway, and tell them you vehemently oppose this disgusting, subversive attempt to gut the ESA and give developers, oil companies, you-name-it the ability to skirt or ignore environmental laws in order to build, drill, pillage, plunder... oops, did I say that? The deadline to get your voice heard is SEPTEMBER 15 so please don't put it off.

Dirk Kempthorne is an Idaho senator who served alongside the now-infamous Larry Craig before he was appointed Secretary of the Interior on June 7, 2006, to replace Gale Norton after she resigned. He is an industry darling and has always favored business interests over environmental ones. So it's really no surprise that he's dreamed this up.

Basically, the changes boil down to this:

only when a federal agency feels their intended actions could potentially harm a listed species must they consult an outside environmental regulatory agency, such as the Fish and Wildlife Service. Otherwise, they can write themselves a free pass (called a "No Effects Determination") and move forward with their project.

Here is a link to the US Fish & Wildlife Service's website with the exact language changes being proposed downloadable in PDF or text format. It's an incredibly dry, nearly incomprehensible legalese read, so here's a link to the Washington Post article on the topic that explains things pretty well.

A read of the proposed language clearly shows another bias - Kempthorne's DOI doesn't want the ESA used to regulate climate change. We should have seen this one coming -- the listing of the polar bear raised the spectre of climate change to the forefront. Greenhouse-gas emitting industry screamed NO FAIR! And this is the inventive way their fears are being assuaged.

Keep in mind that federal agencies often delegate authority to state agencies. Case in point: Caltrans. Whenever federal dollars are helping pay for a project, it's considered a federal project. The federal version of Caltrans is the FHWA. So basically, Caltrans assumes the role of a federal agency on many projects, usually the big, important ones. Can you imagine the insanity that would ensue if Caltrans (an engineering organization focused entirely on project delivery) were given the power to analyze its own activities and to decide when, how and where its projects would impact listed species? Yet if the changes proposed by Kempthorne somehow snake their way through, that would become a very real scenario.

A strong Endangered Species Act is a basic, vital tool if we are to accomplish anything like conservation of a species and its habitat. Without it, we are hamstrung. Believe it.

And the suckier part: I know people who work as biologists for Caltrans. Up until now, they have been able to use the environmental regulatory agencies like a club in order to force the engineers and project managers in charge to do the right thing by the species: allocate money in the budget for things like mitigation, for properly done surveys, for documentation, for road design changes that benefit sensitive species or their habitat, or for permitting. If the proposed changes go through, they will be in a world of hurt because the engineers will simply walk all over them in order to push projects through the planning process and get them on the ground. Try telling a design engineer in a meeting with all the functional groups including project management, construction, right of way, design, etc. etc. that he needs to allow for a bigger culvert in his road design because it aids wildlife passage and reduces roadkill... at a cost of 3X the cost of a smaller culvert. Why should he? Um, because it's the right thing to do? Oh yeah, that will fly.... not. The biologist will likely either get shut down and go away quietly (if he doesn't protest), or be portrayed as a money-wasting tree sitting crackpot environmentalist (if he does try to push it).

Please understand my stance on this is not about job security for myself. I'll pretty much always have a job, because people will always want salmonids around. Something like 75% of all money spent to restore listed species is spent on fish - namely, salmon and steelhead. That's the way it's been for quite a while, and I don't see it changing any time soon. But that is a whole 'nuther blog post, which I'll save for another time. This is about the Bush Administration's non-stop efforts since they took power in 2001 to circumvent the ESA any way they can. This isn't the first thing they've tried. But it is hopefully the last.

Another really sad part is that if Kempthorne's proposed new rules pass, the Dept. of Interior will simply be sued by one or several environmental organizations. Legal activity sucks up an amazing amount of time, money and resources from agency personnel, who obviously are not provided with any additional funding, nor are they allowed to hire help, to deal with the additional workload caused by responding to lawsuits. Their actual work to protect species, therefore suffers immeasurably. Please make your voice heard on this vitally important issue; if we can stop it now, we can have an important impact on how project proponents are required to adhere to the provisions of the ESA. Thanks.... from all the creatures who can't thank you themselves.

Hey everyone, let's go frogging!

And so we did. On Sunday evening, four of us ventured out into Henry Coe State Park to do a little followup work on a study involving the population dynamics between non-native, invasive bullfrogs and native California red-legged frogs in two small stock ponds deep inside the park.

A little background....These ponds were created when the park was still ranchland and the dam that created them was left in place when it was discovered that, even though artificial, the ponds were great habitat for many aquatic species. It's well documented in the scientific literature that bullfrogs outcompete and displace red-legged frogs and are a major cause of their decline, resulting in them being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. For the past six years, researchers have been catching, PIT-tagging and releasing both bullfrogs and red-legs at these ponds and keeping track of reproduction and overall numbers of both species, in an effort to document the pervasive takeover by the bullfrogs and the eventual loss of the red-leg population.

At first, even though there were far fewer red-legs than bullfrogs, it seemed the red-legs were holding their own and it was thought, "hey, maybe they can co-exist. However, in the last few years it's become obvious that the red-legs are losing.... no recruitment (no little frogs making it to adulthood) and now we're losing the adults. So, the focus has shifted from catch and release to culling all the bullfrogs we can catch to see how quickly the red-leg population can bounce back, if at all. Wish them luck; they're going to need it.

Here is the lower pond. As you can see, it is very nearly dry, and will be completely dry by the next time it rains again. The little puddle you see was about three feet across and about six inches deep. But when we got closer, we could see it was positively BOILING with bullfrog tadpoles. Hundreds of them.

So we netted out as many as we could, and left them on the banks for the feral pigs. They taste bad, so not many critters will eat them. Worst case, they'll just turn into fertilizer for the cattails, tules and raccoon-tail in the pond.

We also have tree frogs in the ponds. They are a native species, ridiculously cute, and they are the ones you hear croaking up a storm after it rains in the wintertime.

This little guy is a tree frog metamorph, which means he was very recently a tadpole but has re-absorbed his tail and gills and turned into a real frog. He was about the size of my pinkie fingernail. He and thousands of his little buddies were hopping all over the place and swimming like crazy all over the larger upper pond.

Unfortunately, I am a dumbass and didn't take any pictures of the upper pond, but it's about the size of a football field and the deepest spot is about 3 feet deep. And that is the lowest I have ever seen it.

Onto the frogging......

After you finish checking things out while there is still daylight, you have to keep yourself occupied until it gets dark out, cuz nighttime is when all the frogs come out. You'll almost never see them in the daytime. So we took a walk in a dry creek bed (North fork of Pacheco Creek)....

over hill and dale...oops, I mean, through giant culvert and dale....

ate our dinner sitting on tectonically-folded Franciscan sandstone over looking the "falls"... well, usually there is a falls, and a 10' deep pool with fish in it. Look at the bathtub ring to see how deep it normally is. Damn but this is a dry year...

As soon as it's dark enough, on go the waders and headlamps and out come the nets.

Conditions can skunk you though. Last night was warm enough so that the frogs, having absorbed all that wonderful solar energy during the day, and sitting in the bathtub-warm pond, were extremely active and extremely skittish. We couldn't get within ten feet of them before they would duck back under water and torpedo off. We caught one red-leg (well, two actually, but in a total rookie move I dropped it) and one bullfrog. The ten-year-old among us caught the only bullfrog of the evening.

"Hey V, whatcha got there?"
"WHOA!"

The bullfrogs I've seen here at Coe are the largest I've seen anywhere in the greater SF bay area. They look mutated. These stockponds are so warm and so productive that the normal two-year life cycle of the bullfrog can be completed in only one year, which makes it that much tougher on the red-legs. This big male was almost 9 inches long from the tip of his nose to the vent (urogenital opening). If you stretched him out, he'd have easily been over a foot long from toe to toe. Contrast that with the measurement of the red-leg male, who was about 4-1/2" snout-vent length. Any wonder why bullfrogs are decimating red-legs? Look no further for your evidence.

California red-legs do have one thing working for them: they are adapted to seasonal ponds and are better able to handle dry conditions than bullfrogs, so we had hoped that the upper pond would dry up also, but it's not looking like that is going to happen this year. So, we'll keep monitoring these ponds, as well as other ponds in other areas, including the Santa Cruz coast. Doing what we can to keep the sun from setting on these incredible little amphibians.

It's a wonder I get anything done....

My princess is such a study in contrasts. Most days, she earns her nickname of Freaky Banana by tearing thru the house, beating up her sister, sitting in the windows yodeling to the world outside, or just generally being a ruckus and preventing me from getting my work done. Her sister, on the other hand, is steady as a rock. Mona is straight girl to Daki's comedy act.

The simple act of packing for a brief trip becomes side splitting, since Daki can't resist climbing into enclosed spaces, and when those spaces are soft and knead-worthy, well....

MOOO-oom, she's doing it again.

Princess, what are you doing in there? Dork.

Just leave me alone. I got logs to saw.

These two are really cute together. I must confess to having the cutest cats on the planet. I mean, how can you argue with this?

That's not to say, of course, that they can't get ornery.

If you're waking me up, you had better be bleeding or on fire.

What's that, you say? John McCain is trying to convince people that he's not a complete rageaholic lunatic with panties in a perpetual wad ? OMG!!

Wait, stop, STOP!! John McCain actually said he wants to take Colorado River water away from upstream states and give it away to downstream states, like, say Arizona? In an election year? And he thinks he wants to be President????? You're KILLING ME!!

Okay that last one was SO not funny. Piss off, mom.

She really does sleep like this, though. I swear this photo was not staged. She will burrow under neath the covers, and sometimes under the sheets, depending on how cold she is.

Are you envying all my cuteness yet?

Sweet dreams, y'all.

Comment on California Department of Fish & Game's Hatchery and Stocking Program

The California Department of Fish & Game is soliciting comments now is for their hatchery and fish stocking programs. This is one big convoluted mess, so bear with me.

Historically, Fish & Game was all about sportsmen. Hunters, fishermen, etc. etc. Only since the late 60s/early 70s has its focus started to change somewhat, from managing the state's resources for hunter/fisher folk to shoot at or pick off, to protecting and conserving the resources for their own sake. However, old habits die hard. Fishermen used to be able to catch lots of fish, BIG fish, in lots of different places. Human overpopulation, pollution, water diversions and land conversion have drastically affected fish populations and so there just aren't that many places for big fish left any more. Fishermen don't want to hear such excuses, they just want their fish. So, a few years back the fishing lobby got someone in the state assembly to write a bill forcing Fish & Game to increase their stocking each year by a certain percentage. After that was passed, Fish & Game got sued by the Center for Biological Diversity on the ground that their stocking practices violated the law and were ecologically unsound. Funny? Allow me to explain.

We've already established that Fish & Game was originally formed to serve the state's sportsmen. Also already established is that sportsmen like their target species plentiful and large. Fish & Game has stocked rainbow trout all over the state since the late 1800s, and with the advent of aerial stocking in the 1940s, it was even easier to sprinkle trout in all sorts of places, such as the high Sierra where they had not been present since before the last glaciation 10,000 years ago. Without fish present, other species had a chance to thrive there, such as the mountain yellow legged frog. Another form of trout, the cutthroat trout, also had a chance to evolve into many different variations (Wikipedia lists 14), many of which are unique to Sierra streams, and none of which can compete with the hardier, far more aggressive rainbows. The lawsuit is forcing a full environmental impact report (EIR) be done by Fish & Game before they are allowed to resume stocking.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts. Visit Fish & Game's website and click on the red link on the right side for "Public Notices". It will take you to a different window which will list the public hearings scheduled on this issue and also a way for you to submit your comments. Consider bookmarking it so you can keep up on all the latest and greatest at Fish & Game.

What have I gotten myself into...

I got mixed up in this crazy web board where the posters are all athletes, aspiring athletes, health conscious, or just plain like working out for the many health benefits. I am ...of an age... *ahem* meaning I ain't old yet but I sure as hell am not ready to be as old as I am. When I had a few less years under my belt, I picked up running just to see if I could do it. Surprise surprise, those endorphins are addictive. For a while there I was running 5-6 miles/day and doing 10Ks on the weekends, even though these were my "wild single girl" days and I was also quite dedicated to drinking, clubbing and the occasional cigarette. In my then-typical careless fashion I paid little attention to stretching, conditioning or otherwise taking care of my body so I should not have been surprised when an injury to my left knee sidelined me and lingered so long and so painfully that I gave up running entirely... until very recently.

I trained for, and ran in, the Wharf to Wharf race just this past July, a fun little 10K that goes from the Santa Cruz Boardwalk to the Capitola Wharf. I didn't break any records or beat my personal best time of nearly 20 years ago, but I was able to run the whole thing and finish more or less pain free. Encouraged by this, I decided to do more. A few friends who were doing the Santa Cruz Mtn. Trail Run talked me into signing up for the 21K. Gulp. I've never EVER tried to do longer than a 10K. Sure, I've HIKED 13 miles in a single day, and that kicked my butt.... but now I have to try to RUN it. Click on the link to the course map. You will see why I very nearly wept when I realized what I'd agreed to do...

How to prepare...?

First, I can easily run five miles after eating a decent breakfast. When I attempt longer distances I almost always run out of fuel and bonk. How to keep gas in the tank without giving myself cramps or blood sugar spikes?

Second, I am what is called "hyperextendible." In other words, I have overcooked spaghetti for connective tissue. In order to feel any kind of a stretch in my calves, I have to practically touch my shin with my big toe.... well, maybe it's not that bad, but the last personal trainer I worked with told me "I am a yoga teacher and even I can't stretch like that." Oh well. So I need tips on how to get a good stretch in my muscles so I can build up mileage, get stronger and remain injury-free and pain-free.

Third, I am what they call LAZY. Training takes dedication, planning, patience, discipline and commitment. I possess none of these traits in abundance. Therefore, this little "exercise" (if I may be permitted a small bon mot) is meant to teach me how one sets goals, works towards them and hopefully achieves them.

I am also one of those people that doesn't know when to ask for help. Thankfully, the Universe is throwing things at me, like these folks:

Fleet Feet Sports

When I lived and worked in the South Bay, Fleet Feet Cupertino was recommended to me by one of the attorneys I worked for. I was fitted for, and bought, my first pair of real running shoes there and a lasting impression was made upon me. So when I saw on their website on August 12 that they were offering coaching sessions twice a week to train for.... guess what... HALF MARATHONS... and they started on August 20, I took that as a sign that I needed to heft my lazy, chickenshit, weakly protesting hiney over there and sign up. The boy and I were on a leisurely little bike ride today and we just happened to ride over to Solano Avenue, so I really had no excuse not to drop in and speak to Brian, who will be leading the program on Wednesday night.

I cannot tell you how pumped I am to be doing this. Setting a goal, and then actually setting myself up to succeed, instead of showing up on race day not having run a yard in the previous five weeks and having to be helicoptered out after rupturing an Achilles. Plus, new research has shown that running is even more beneficial to your health than previously thought. So get out there and start shuffling.

Welcome to my weird little world.

I'm a fish biologist employed by the government. Since some of the things I say here may be considered controversial by some people, I've decided to cloak myself in a little secrecy. It's just easier that way. Those "on the job" who know me personally may recognize me from the things I say or the pictures I post, but I will leave that up to the fish gods.

I cohabit with my boyfriend (who shall also remain nameless and faceless) and three cats (two mine, one his). My two are both rescues and both are chock full of personality. His is a cranky old food whore who will only give you the time of day if you have a loaded dish in your hand.



This is Daki. Also known as the Princess, Snot Face, the Retard, Silly Girl, Freaky Banana, Potato Bug.







This is Mona. Also known as Mona-girl, Potato Bug, Licky Mc Lickerston, One-Eyed Leapin Lizard. She lost her right eye to a foxtail when she was about a month old. She doesn't seem to mind, and it certainly does not slow her down at all.

And this is Oliver. Also known as Fatboy, Cranky pants, Raccoon Butt and The Bottomless Pit. As you can see, he rarely misses a meal if he can help it, and never passes up a chance to bogart everyone else's meals. When he's not growling, hissing and swatting at the girls, that is..... sigh. I see kitty Prozac in his immediate future.


I called my blog what I called it mainly because I am a biologist and a science geek and I love Latin Linnaean classifications. The Felidae part, is pretty easy.... I love cats and they are my family. But Rodentia? Oncorhynchus (Latin for "cancer nose")?

Let me explain.

When I first got Daki, she was a tiny tiny kitten no more than five weeks old and so sick from eye infections, parasites and upper respiratory stuff that it was touch and go for a while as to whether or not she would make it. Well, obviously she did, because I have a picture of her here, all grown up and alive. But once I had pumped her full of enough drugs that she no longer was at death's door and actually able to move around, she looked like a little black rat running around my apartment. I started referring to her as "the rodent" and the nickname stuck, even though she's long since grown into the proverbial beautiful swan and no more resembles a rodent than George Bush resembles a sentient being. Since she has complete run of the house and my heart, "Order Rodentia" seemed to apply, since she issues the orders and I follow them.

The "Genus Oncorhynchus" part.... well, my job focuses on anadromous fish in the genus Oncorhynchus (namely, coho salmon and steelhead trout), both of which are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, a neat little law that was, ironically enough, signed into existence by a Republican president. Coho salmon are also listed under the state Endangered Species Act, but steelhead aren't. That kind of bugs me sometimes.... some people think steelhead are doing fine (and you can fish for them even in places where they are listed) and maybe they are, but the underlying causes for their population declines aren't going away so I doubt things will improve unless more attention is paid to these factors.

So there you have it. The only species I haven't accounted for is Homo sapiens, but I like it better that way. Humans are overexposed, too arrogant, and we tend to eclipse all other species we encounter. This blog is meant to give the others some much deserved airtime. Occasionally, when one of H. sapiens does something exemplary, I might grant them some of my blogspace. But don't hold your breath.

In case you haven't noticed, I have lots of opinions about lots of stuff, and I like to take pictures. Hope you'll stay tuned.