Campground Re-Opens At Clam Beach

Campground Re-Opens At Clam Beach

01-30-11

I noticed the gates open at the Clam Beach Campground today.  There were fresh payment envelopes in the kiosk and some people were setting up camp. 

Clam Beach County Park sits at the Central Ave. exit of U.S. 101 on the Pacific Ocean in Humboldt County.  Campers are just a few hundred feet from the surf. Activities in the area include kayaking, biking, surfing, birding, horse-back riding and just general relaxation walking the miles of almost empty beaches.

The Hammond Coastal Trail starts at the campground and goes south to Arcata.  To the north just minutes away are Trinidad Ca. with restaurants and a casino.  To the south is the McKilneyville / Arcata airport, restaurants, supermarkets, drug stores, hardware stores, movies at the local cinema and even a Kmart. Just up Central Ave. less than half a mile is the Clam Beach Inn where they serve cocktails.

The campground has been closed for about 2 months for a redesigning of sorts.  There are now 9 tent camps with fire rings and a picnic table.  There is also plenty of RV parking in the lot but no hookups.  Pit toilets are on site. 3 day limit.

The Arcata Eye Rockestra

The video gets cut off at 3 minutes because in order for my camera to do you tube it has to be in compact mode.

Still, this 3 minutes of the Arcata Eye Rockestra doing the Rolling Stones will give you an idea of what you missed last night at the Arcata Eye Ball.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s6MeX80kNk

The Arcata Eye Had A Ball

In support of community journalism, the 14th Annual Arcata Eye Ball was held at the Arcata Theatre Lounge last night.  With performances by Odd Fellows, Eye Dolls, Steven Weven the juggler, Eureka Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence, The Rutabaga Queens and others. 

Others included a rock and roll set by The Arcata Eye Rockestra.  Mark Lovelace, Marla Joy, Ross Rowley, Deric Mendes, Rob Amerman, Joanne Rand, Mike McLaren, Duncan Burgess, Craig Carroll, Kevin Hoover and not on the bill was Julie Fulkerson.

This is the first time I have been into the Arcata Theatre Lounge and I have to say, it's a great place.  The garlic cheese fries were good, the beer was cold and reasonably priced, there is a full bar and each night the entertainment changes.  I like the art deco and feel of the place too.  Through those doors was a well organized party led by John Mathews of KSLG who was the Master of Ceremonies.  I have a video snippet or two of the Rockestra and may post that later, or not.

A performance by The Rutabaga Queens was captured by my little camera from my table. Abba fans may like the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9xZkj_C8F4

Trinidad To Clam Beach Run

At 2 pm today, the second of two races from Trinidad to Clam Beach started.  This was a 5 and 3/4 mile trek from near downtown Trinidad that takes runners down Scenic Drive through towering redwood trees, along the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean down to Moonstone Beach, across the Little River and south along the beach to Clam Beach. 

The first race started at 1 pm and was an 8 and 3/4 mile trek that started at Patrick's Point.  Reports of over two thousand people participated this year and I would say judging from the video (some day you tube will finish uploading it) of the second race that there were near a thousand in that race alone.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGhyDVUyD_A

New General Manager At KMUD Community Radio In Garberville

A former colleague of mine, has been hired as the new General Manager of KMUD Radio in Humboldt and Mendocino counties.

Sarah Reid who used to run the production department at Bicoastal Media in Eureka will now run the iconic community supported radio station KMUD, broadcasting on 91.1, 88.3 and 90.3 fm in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties in Northern California.

 Her passion for  local programming and past work in radio and TV  news production should be a nice fit for KMUD. 

I wish her and KMUD much success.

Heating With Wood In Humboldt

I think that there are two kinds of people that heat with wood.  There are amateurs like me or those on vacation in a rental with a fireplace and there are professionals.  The professionals have a serious wood stove with lots of stacked wood around during the months that you aren't thinking about heating your house much.  These people are splitting logs or having more wood brought when it seems that they are surrounded with firewood.

 

Then there us amateurs that run out of good firewood at the end of January because I couldn't find any good cured hardwood in October.  When I got back from Christmas vacation I had only wood that was down on the property that had been rained on. I got small amounts from the store for $6.99 a bundle.  You had to have a real log to go with it or it wouldn't last long.  I tapped the resource I had and looked around. 

 

Resale Lumber in Humboldt now has half cords of Almond wood.  Good, hard and dry.  $225.00 on a shrink wrapped pallet. Delivery is extra.  They also have these compressed wood shaving fire logs for $1.20 a piece.  These are shorter than the 3 pack ones you see in the hardware stores and some supermarkets.  They also last a lot longer and don't expand like a slinky and die down after a couple of hours.  I have found coals from these in the stove when I get home from work left over from the night before.  That's over 20 hours of being lit.  The main heat is good for about 6 hours or so and you'll need two to four for a good hot fire. They also stack well inside the house, in a cupboard or a closet or against a wall.  It's a lot of heat for such a small container.

 

There is also Caloak firewood in a box at Safeway.  It is $8.79 a box which is a cubic foot of good hard heavy firewood that lasts a long time.   The duraflame logs don't put out any real heat and are bad for wood stoves.

 

Most years I have seen trailers and pickups full of wood with signs on them displaying the type, how much and a phone number.  I haven't seen much of that around this winter so I wanted to pass this info along.  I also wanted to see if any locals have any good wood they would like to sell at a decent price. If you have an old phone book, I am in there.  C.O.D.

Food Speculation: 'People Die from Hunger While Banks Make a Killing on Food'

"It's not just bad harvests and climate change – it's also speculators that are behind record prices. And it's the planet's poorest who pay."  Find out more at The Guardian UK.

 
To view more provocative political satire like the sad picture here, go to
http://www.sl-webs.com/deesillustration/artwork.asp?item=500&cat=satire
 
Warning: Dees art will offend you. At least some of it offends me. The above story from The Guardian also offends me, but I'm glad they published it.

Clam Beach Campground Renovation Almost Complete

Repairs and renovation to Clam Beach Campground are almost complete. The new tables never arrived and only 3 new fire rings were installed.  They have put the old  picnic tables back in place and the best of the old fire rings.  Two sites will not have tables for a while. 

There will only be 9 tent sites now but each one will have a fire ring and it is assumed that two more tables will arrive at sometime and each site will also have a picnic table.

The new layout has large sand berms that would seem to offer some protection from rogue waves as the ocean is only a few hundred yards away.  A nice plus is that you set your tent up on soft sand.  If your air mattress gets a hole, it won't be a big deal.  There is still plenty of RV parking but no hookups and there is a 3 day stay limit.

Comcast Buys NBC/Universal - Keith Olberman Gets Fired

The merger of Comcast and NBC/Universal has already claimed it's first casualty, Keith Olberman.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704754304576096772622398558.html

PG&E To Do Weekly Tsunami Siren Tests On Fridays

PG&E said that they will be doing regular weekly tests of it's Tsunami Warning Siren on Fridays just after Noon. The tests will take place at their Humboldt Bay power plant.
The tests should last for about 15 seconds or so and will be heard in King Salmon and Humboldt Hill as well as large portions of Humboldt Bay.
In the event that there is a real Tsunami Warning the signal will stay on much longer.

The Moon

The only way this picture would have been better would to have a line of geese going through it.  They have been migrating south by the thousands overhead for the past few days

MLK Day Part II, Karle Xiomara

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlwPr7rGMSc

Karlie Xiomara spoke to the crowd on the Arcata Plaza Saturday in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  This 15 year old knows more about what goes on in the world than many people twice her age.

MLK Celebration Today On The Arcata Plaza

Richard Gilchrist of the Humboldt Bay chapter of Veterans for Peace spoke to a gathering in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Arcata Plaza this afternoon. He was one of many speakers that addressed the small crowd that turned out to celebrate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msJp_2pRYXU
Other speakers took to the microphone and later the crowd broke bread and then held hands.

I Think My Counter Was Designed By Diebold

On November 11th of 2010, I was perusing my blog when I noticed the counter hit all 3's.  33,333 so I took a picture with my digital camera.  I thought it was kind of cool like when the odometer on the car goes to 100,000.  Around Thanksgiving of last year the counter dropped by about 10-thousand hits.

 I was going over some of my old pictures and noticed this one and thought, what the hell.  I should post it before it gets to 33,333 again. 

This proves one of 3 things.  1. My blog was hacked last Thanksgiving, 2. I am really a time traveler or 3. the Dreamweaver counter widget I used was made by a voting machine manufacturer.

KFC Closes Eureka And Crescent City Locations

Update to an old story from almost 10 years ago, KFC is about to open a new store in Eureka California.

 I don't have an official date for opening but based on construction of their new location on Broadway across the street and north of the new In-N-Out burger by only a block or so I would say sometime around or just after New Year 2021. 

The Colonel is back!

Sunny Fortuna will be the only place in Humboldt 

County to get KFC tomorrow.  The  2 Eureka stores closed tonight for good along with the Crescent City location.  The Fortuna location will stay open.  An employee told me that the owner (franchisee) sold the three locations and the new owner will change them to Churches Fried Chicken.
My source said that some of the employees will make the transition to the new company but others are now out of work.

An entire episode of South Park was devoted to the closing of KFC locations in Colorado.  In the episode they all become medical marijuana dispensaries. 

Cartman ends up trafficing in KFC from out of the area.

I Saw This One Coming

About two years ago Thom Hartmann and Alex Jones were the guests on each others shows at the same time.  It was a two network, 1 hour simulcast.  When I heard the mix of opinions I thought, this is where it is.  Somewhere within the two views lies the truth.  One finds that our views may be so far to the left  that we agree with that person  on the  far right  This is a new political dynamic that I was sure would catch on.  Ralph Nader discusses this new voting block on of all places, Fox News.

Coats for the Cold

http://coatsforthecold.org/

Drop-Off Bin Locations:

ARCATA: Arcata Co-op, Hensel's Hardware,  Arcata Community Recycling Center, HealthSport,  Sunny Brae Ace Hardware
Rainbow Self Storage,  Baywood Country Club and Golf Course, Umpqua Bank, The Outdoor Store

McKINLEYVILLE:
Beau Pre Golf Club, Miller Farms, Rainbow Self Storage, Umpqua Bank,  Les Schwab

EUREKA: Pierson’s Building Center, Leon’s Car Care Center,  Eureka Co-op, HealthSport, Scrapper’s Edge, Pro Sports Center
Eureka Municipal Golf Course, Rainbow Self Storage, Sport and Cycle. Redwood Marine. Umpqua Bank
The Toy Box, Shafer’s Ace Hardware. Les Schwab

FORTUNA: Sport and Cycle, Fortuna Ace Hardware, Redwood Empire Golf Course, Umpqua Bank, Les Schwab

PG&E Power Plant Off Line Due To Fire. Conserve Power Tonight

A fire broke out in one of the generators at the PG&E Humboldt Bay power plant this afternoon.  A PG&E spokesperson told me that the plant would be off line tonight and that could pose some problems.  All electricity in Humboldt County will be fed through one power line that comes from out of the area and that will be maxed out.  

PG&E wants people to turn off any unnecessary appliances, electric clothes dryers, dishwashers, vacuums, electric space heaters and even lights to conserve power.   PG&E hopes to have the plant back on line later tonight or tomorrow some time.

Update:  I got a call back from PG&E and they are dead serious about conserving power tonight.  If we burn up that line, the whole county will be in the dark.

Home Depot Goes After Their Competition

To All Traffic Managers:  

The information below applies to the Home Depot units scheduled as part of your inventory in 2011:

Our client, Home Depot, has requested at least 30 minutes separation from any other locally or nationally scheduled Home Depot product, service, proprietary brand, vendor or business unit. They have also requested a minimum of thirty minutes separation from competitors in the “big box” Home Improvement Category (defined below), including without limitation:

Lowe’s, Sears/K-Mart, True Value, Ace Hardware, Menards

The Home Improvement Category is defined as the following home improvement products including without limitation: indoor/outdoor building materials/supplies/tools (siding, cement, lumber), lawn and garden, shelving, storage and organization, plumbing, paint, electrical, power equipment, hardware, outdoor furniture, lawn mowers, kitchen and bath, appliances, window treatments (blinds, shutters), flooring (tile, carpet, hardwood), sheds, décor, heating and cooling, safety and security, lighting, and fans.

Please keep this in mind when scheduling Radio commercial inventory adjacent to your station’s local commercial breaks.  Thank you for your attention to these special requests.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call your Affiliate Services Representative.

I did not include the name of the network because this is Home Depot's idea not the networks.  Do you see who Home Depot considers it's competitors?

If a Home depot ad aired at the top of the hour during our national news, that would preclude all advertisers selling the items listed above from airing the rest of the hour because Home Depot usually buys several news spots in a row at the top of every hour.  Logic would put local ads at half past the hour but if the last Home Depot ad aired at the end of the news cast that would preclude the half past the hour slot and anything later would be too close to the ad coming again in the next news cast.

Luckily for me, this was not sent by ABC News and I don't carry much from this particular national radio network.

Can you imagine Humboldt County with a Home Depot?  Kiss people that sell the above products goodbye because Home Depot considers them on their list and they have more backing.  Big fish eat little fish.  Many of us will have to find something else to do for a living including myself as that list contains a major portion of the local ad dollars where I work.

Fair And Accuracy In Reporting-You've Got To See This!

Mike Malloy was bringing some of this up tonight on his radio show.  Then I saw this at Heraldo.
http://www.fair.org/blog/2010/11/10/fox-news-the-no-1-name-in-murder-fantasies/

Update: To be fair and accurate, Fox News CEO, Roger Ailes told his network to " Tone it down".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/10/fox-news-ceo-roger-ailes-_n_806952.html

Trinidad Skate Park Alliance To Hold Fundraiser At Town Hall

Feb 5th will be a fundraiser for the Trinidad Skate Park at the Trinidad Town Hall.Doors open at 7pm
Tickets at the door $10-$20 sliding scale.
There will be members of Woven Roots(possibly the whole band!) and DJ Lobsta holding down the music.Bar and lounge will be provided by the Humboldt Spin Collective.
Fire Dancing and fire show also provided by the Humboldt Spin Collective, show at 9pm
This is an ALL AGES showTrinidad Skate Park Alliance will provide an all ages refreshments bar.
Please come support, this will be great fun for a great cause!

Where Americans Get Their News

http://labs.slate.com/articles/media-ideology-treemap/

Click on the link above and use the slider to go from liberal to conservative to see where most Americans get their news information. 

Rep. Olson Calls Sarah Palin's Cross Hairs Target Map "Inappropriate" Last March

Think Progress interviewed Congressman Pete Olson last March about the facebook target map that Sarah Palin took down today after Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford was assassinated in Arizona.




While Olson continually claimed that both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have incited violence, he could not point to a single example of Democrats doing so.

Fundraiser Ad From Jesse Kelly Who Ran Against Giffords For Congress

Shame on me for pointing this stuff out.  I'm not the one using gun references in effort  to eliminate my opponents.

Arizona Congresswoman Shot In Head Today Was On Sarah Palin's Hit List

By Stephen C. Webster for Raw Story

Saturday, January 8th, 2011 -- 3:40 pm

Telling voters to 'reload' and 'aim for' Democrats was perfectly fine, Sen. McCain argued in March

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who was shot Saturday during a public event in Tucson, was among 20 other members of Congress who were on a so-called hit list published by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Palin, who has never publicly advocated violence against fellow US politicians, has often employed rhetorical attacks that leverage imagery and terminology familiar to gun owners and evocative of firearms. She said in March that her supporters should "reload" and "aim for" Democrats, ostensibly with their votes.
A map of the US, published on Palin's Facebook page, featured targeting crosshairs over individual congressional districts Palin had targeted for intense campaign efforts. While her note called for "pink slips," she added that supporters should fire a "salvo" at those lawmakers. Rep. Giffords was on the list.

Hours after Giffords was shot, that list was still available on Palin's Facebook page. (Screenshot.)

More from Raw Story

More Dead Birds Falling Out Of The Sky

Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 turtle doves fall dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks

By Wil Longbottom at Daily Mail
Last updated at 3:45 PM on 7th January 2011
Story:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344913/Animal-death-mystery-Two-MILLION-dead-fish-wash-Maryland-bay.html

Local Democrats To Elect Delegates Saturday Morning

Vote for delegates for the California  Democratic Party this Saturday at the Labor Temple

Progressive Democrats running include Linda Atkins, Shane Brinton and Joe Wildman

Vote on Saturday from 10:am to noon Labor Temple  840 E Street, Eureka CA.


All registered Democrats in the 1st Assembly District are eligible to
vote.

Alex Jones and Charles Karel Replace Dr. Laura In Humboldt

AM 1480 in Eureka has replaced Dr. Laura's two hours with The Karel Show from 2 to 3 pm  Monday through Friday and Alex Jones from 2 to 3 am following Coast to Coast over nights 7 nights a week.

Dr. Laura left broadcast radio stations and moved to satellite after one of her rants went over the top for broadcast radio standards.  Her local replacements are anything but ordinary.

Peter B. Collins Is On KGO

Thanks to my friend on facebook, Kathy Sarbian I got the news that on New Years Eve, former KGOE afternoon host Peter B. Collins is now live on KGO AM 810 in San Francisco, Saturdays from  1 to 7 pm.

From his web site:

Your humble host will kick off the new year on KGO in San Francisco, Saturday January 1 from 7 to 10pm PST. The big signal covers the west coast at 810 AM, or you can grab the stream here. I was at KGO from 1979-1981, when Jerry Brown was governor and we both had hair! Listen in if you can.

I don't know if it is a regular gig or if he is now just a holiday fill in but I will get the scoop and pass it along.   KGO doesn't syndicate their shows so don't look for him on the local airwaves again anytime soon.

Humboldt Counts! 2011 Homeless Count

On Wednesday and Thursday January 26th and 27th the Humboldt Housing and Homeless Coalition and participating agencies and organizations will conduct a Point-In-Time count of homeless people. According to Rachel Fuentes, Humboldt Counts! Coordinator, the count serves three purposes. It helps the community comply with HUD requirements for funding, it can be helpful to service providers in long-range planning and it can help providers to evaluate the effectiveness of the services they currently provide.


Volunteers throughout Humboldt County are needed to help interview people living on the streets, in shelters and “doubled-up” with family or friends. They will be asking people where they slept on the night of January 25th, 2011 and gathering demographic information on them. The survey is anonymous. All volunteers will be trained on how to administer the Point-In-Time survey two weeks prior to the count.

Humboldt Counts! is hopeful that it is a shared dream to have Humboldt County’s homeless people and families find permanent housing. If you can help or have additional questions please contact Rachel Fuentes (707) 407-6301 or humboldtcounts@gmail.com

Good Weather For Local Crab Fishing

People waking from their New Years slumber were stunned by the sun today in Trinidad California. Between storms we have been granted several sunny but cold days ahead.  Known as a small drinking village with a fishing problem, Trinidad sports a long wooden pier extending from it's little head into the harbor. 

The big head is to the left of the photo.  A renovation of the wooden pier is in the works to replace creosote soaked wood with concrete.  The pier serves commercial crab fishermen that bring tones of fresh Dungeness Crab from the Pacific Ocean to you. 

Major 7.2 magnitude earthquake hits Chile

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70116J20110102

Jon Stewart And Stephen Colbert To Stay On Local Cable TV

The thought that Andy Griffith and others at TV Land, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Spike TV would all go dark on local cable channels sent shivers down the spines of local TV buffs.

Suddenlink said they have reached an agreement with Viacom to keep the programming on their cable network.

December 31, 2010

MEDIA  ADVISORY

Suddenlink, Viacom Reach Agreement

Suddenlink and Viacom are pleased to announce that they’ve reached an agreement in principle on a long-term contract.  Viacom channels, listed below, will continue to be carried by Suddenlink.  In addition, EPIX will be made available to Suddenlink customers in the next few months.

EPIX provides consumers with the latest Hollywood movies, 15,000 films from three of the top motion picture libraries and cutting-edge original programming on television, on demand and online, exclusively in HD and SD.

Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Suddenlink wants to thank its customers for their patience and support during these negotiations and assure them that, as a result of this agreement, there will be no changes to the recently announced rate adjustments for Suddenlink’s most-popular services; the company will absorb any difference and customers will have a choice about whether or not they want EPIX.   

In addition to EPIX, the new agreement covers all of the Viacom networks included under the prior agreement.  Of those networks, the seven typically featured on Suddenlink’s widely available Expanded Basic service are MTV, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Comedy Central, Spike TV, VH1, CMT.  The others are featured on optional digital services and include Logo, Palladia HD, Nick Jr., TeenNick, NickToons, Nick2, MTV Hits, MTV2, MTV Jams, Tr3s, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, and CMT Pure Country.