Canary

There was once a small summer village and a racetrack at Ocean Park. Railroad employees lived near the Surf Station, and many locals learned how to water ski in the estuary of the Santa Ynez River. All of those improvements are long gone because the military acquired the beach and 150 square miles of ranchland […]

 I don’t know much about below-ground critters, I’m more of a winged creature expert, but it seems to me that Groundhog Day wasn’t Feb. 2. It was Feb. 18, during a Lompoc City Council meeting where elected officials had to grapple once again with homeless encampments in the Santa Ynez Riverbed.  It wasn’t so long […]

“Perfect is the enemy of good.”  I had to rack my bird brain for where I’d heard that before. I know it wasn’t from my eagle-eyed copyediting professors back in the day. My one philosophy class?  Oh yeah. It was Voltaire. Other philosophers have expanded on the concept, saying absolute perfection is pretty much impossible, […]

The race for the state Assembly’s 37th District seat is ready for you to judge—as are all the other races for that matter.  As for Monique Limón, she’s bailing and running for state Senate, because Hannah-Beth Jackson termed out—although if Limón wins, I wouldn’t expect any major changes. You know, kind of like when Salud […]

The new year is all but here, and this curvy bird is in denial about the need to make a so-called resolution to lose some weight. Sure, I’m not as aerodynamic as I was a few ounces ago, but what I’ve lost in average air speed velocity I’ve gained in presence, amirite?  I’m starting to […]

I’d like to congratulate the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, who patiently persisted in their quest to turn Camp 4 into reservation land and finally made it happen!  With the flick of President Donald Trump’s wrist and a little bit of work on U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal’s (D-Santa Barbara) part, the devil was in […]

Twisting and turning in the wind, giant 500-foot-tall wind turbines could find their way into George Bedford’s flawlessly idealic view across the hills and dales of San Miguelito Canyon near Lompoc, if the Strauss Wind Energy Project gets approved.  The project, which was approved by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission in November 2019, got […]

I think Lompoc might have some competition for most drama on an elected body in Santa Barbara County.  Solvang’s recent City Council meeting makes me long for 2017, when the drama involved City Councilmember Jim Mosby—Doesn’t Lompoc’s drama always involve Mosby?—throwing a fit about then Mayor Bob Lingl, who made a finger gun with his […]

As I understand it, humans have a great capacity for imagination, to envision what’s not yet happened, to dream about a potential occurrence. Bear with me—this bird brain is rather limited in its capacity to imagine much of a potential future. Am I wrong then in surmising that the ability to imagine also gives you […]

Have you ever stopped to think about the idioms attached to birdkind?  We’ve got some positive: as the crow flies (you know, direct), eagle-eyed, early bird gets the worm, birds of a feather flock together, like a duck to water.  And we’ve got some negative: burying one’s head in the sand (ostriches totally do not […]

You can tell that Solvang City Council members are obviously frustrated with their whole push to make the city a better, more tourist-filled, business-centric kind of town. Their disdain for the residents who are fighting against the change just falls out of their mouths. “Why doesn’t anyone understand us?” they whine from the dais. Mayor […]

I know the Santa Barbara County Animal Services shelter primarily deals with our four-legged and a few feathered friends, but something smells fishy in that department.  The good folks of the general public were sharing heartfelt testimony in favor of recently terminated Animal Services Director Tara Diller. She was fired Feb. 6, less than a […]