Archive for July 2014
Where Is It: From Wikipedia:
The islands within the park extend along the Southern California coast from Point Conception near Santa Barbara to San Pedro, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. Park headquarters and the Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center are located in the city of Ventura.
The park consists of 249,354 acres, half of which are under the ocean, and includes the islands of:
The Birth: Channel Islands National Monument is established and is administered from Sequoia National Park. Chanel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary were established in 1980. The administrative headquarters and visitor’s center was constructed in Ventura in 1982.
It Happened Here: Parts of Mutiny on the Bounty were filmed on San Marcos Island in 1935. The film won the academy award for best picture.
Size: 249,561 acres.
# Visitors: 212,029 in 2013.
Animals: From Wikipedia:
More than 2,000 species of plants and animals can be found within the park. However only three mammals are endemic to the islands, one of which is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) which is known to carry the sin nombre hantavirus. Spotted Skunk and Channel Islands Fox also are endemic. The Island fence lizard is also endemic to the Channel Islands. Other animals in the park include Island Scrub Jay, harbpor seal, California sea lion, island fox, spotted skunk, island night lizard, barn owl, American kestrel, horned lark and meadowlark and California brown pelican. One hundred and forty-five of these species are unique to the islands and found nowhere else in the world. Marine life ranges from microscopic plankton to the endangered blue whale, the largest animal on earth.
Choices: The bald eagle population is resurgent in the Park. The first nest in over 50 years was seen in the Park this year. The eagles disappeared in the early ’60s due to the impact of DDT on eagle’s eggs.
Fees: There are no fees to enter the Park.
Staying There: Camp reservations are $15/night.
Contact Info:
1901 Spinnaker Dr.
Ventura, CA 93001
Visitor Information: (805) 658-5730
Current Issues: The island fox is also recovering from near extinction. The fox has recovered now to 2,500 animals; it had lost 95% of its population in the ’90s.
The Park encompasses five remarkable islands and their ocean environment, preserving and protecting a wealth of natural and cultural resources. Isolation over thousands of years has created unique animals, plants, and archeological resources found nowhere else on Earth and helped preserve a place where visitors can experience coastal southern California as it once was. Photo: Victoria Happekotte Borjesson. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 3/30/14.
Peregrine falcon. From the Park’s Facebook page.
Brown pelican. From the Park’s website.
The bright yellow bouquets of the giant coreopsis are so vivid they can sometimes be seen from the mainland. Photo by: Derek Lohuis. From the Park’s website.
More
National Park Service: Channel Islands National Park
NationalGeographic.com: Channel Islands National Park
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Ingredients
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives
- 1 Tablespoon anchovy paste
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
Place the garlic cloves into a blender or food processor; pulse to mince. Add the olives, lemon juice, anchovy paste and sour cream. Blend until everything is finely chopped. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add more sour cream as desired
Serve with hot baguettes.
Servings: 8
Yield: 1 cup
Inspired by the tapenade served by the Wolf Creek Restaurant & Brewing Company in Santa Clarita, CA.
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Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken breasts, skinned and boneless
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 2 Tablespoon butter
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1-1//2 cups chicken broth, fat free
- 2 large lemons, zest and juice
- 6 cloves garlic
- 4 oz capers
Instructions
Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally. Pound each piece lightly until 1/4″ thick.
Beat egg whites with 1 Tablespoon water. Mix flour, garlic powder and garlic salt. Dip chicken breasts in egg white mixture, shake off excess, then dip in flour mixture to coat evenly. Set aside until all pieces are dredged.
Melt butter and olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove to 9″ x 13″ casserole once browned.
Add minced garlic to pan. Saute over low heat 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice, zest and chicken broth to deglaze pan, scraping up bits from the bottom.
Return chicken to pan. Simmer 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan and return to casserole dish. Sprinkle capers and extra lemon zest on top. Lay thin slices of lemon over chicken. Serve with angel hair pasta.
Serves 8-10.
Chicken Piccata
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Bison. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 6/30/14.
A moose grazes on aquatic plants in Wonder Lake, Denali National Park. NPS Photo/K. Lewandowski. Posted by the US Department of the Interior on Tumblr, 7/1/14.
White-tailed deer in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Males shed and regrow their antlers every year. By late summer, their antlers will be fully developed in preparation for fighting during the fall mating season, or “rut.” Their antlers are covered in velvet now. Photo by Samuel Hobbs. From the Park’s Facebook page.
Evening traffic in Denali National Park. Photo by Daniel A. Leifheit. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 7/17/14.
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Animals, Part 4
Animals, Part 3
Animals, Part 2
The Animals
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The area is so remote, it’s referred to as “The Lost Coast.” Over 40,000 acres were designated wilderness in 2006 … where the land meets the sea. The Kings Range National Conservation Area is in northern California. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 7/16/14.
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Canyonlands National Park in the setting summer sun. From the Park’s Facebook page.
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Canyonlands National Park
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Who doesn’t like putting your feet up at the end of a stressful day? This brown bear is from Denali National Park. Photo: Georgia Riddick. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 7/14/14.
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The so-called Super Moon of 7/12/14 rises at Delicate Arch, Arches National Park. Posted by the US Department of the Interior on Tumblr, 7/13/14.
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Sometimes, it’s good not to remember everything.
I had been reading a LOT of science fiction lately. I’d gotten into a groove, reading space opera after space opera on my Kindle. This genre has a lot of self-published books available, and those books are relatively cheap … and I have read many.
And then I realized that I was getting tired of the things you often find in self-published books. Formulaic writing. Redundancy. No editing.
Poor quality , in other words. You get what you pay for, and I wasn’t paying much for these books.
So, that itch had come to a natural end, and it was time to move on.
Amazon, in all of its wisdom, sent me an email (that I had requested!) about a new release from Robert Galbraith, called The Silkworm. It wasn’t as cheap as the self-published books, but I did remember liking the protagonist, the elegantly named Cormoran Strike.
I bought the book.
And, oh my goodness, what an incredible difference to be reading a work by a great author with skillful editing. LOVED this book.
I was about 1/3 of the way into it when I remembered that this book was written under a pseudonym. Robert Galbraith is actually JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. I am pleased to report that I did not remember that until I was totally in love with this book. I recommend it to you heartily.
The book is decidedly NOT youth fiction. It’s a murder mystery, and the victim suffered a grisly demise. Gore is there. Sexual deviancy is there. But … not in a flamboyant way, and not in a fashion that called unnecessary attention to the spectacle.
The book is surprisingly free of the street language and overt sexuality that typifies much of American fiction in this genre.
So, please, pick up a copy download the file and enjoy The Silkworm. If you didn’t follow my instruction to read the first novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling, then do that as well … though both novels do stand on their own very well.
J. K. Rowling. Image by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty
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The Cuckoo’s Calling
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Hot hot is it? Hot enough that this coyote pup found a bird bath and cooled off in Death Valley National Park. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 7/10/14.
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Where Is It: From Wikipedia:
