[Russell Towle's journal]
“March 1, 1986 Partly cloudy today, but warm, with a certain tension in the air, a tension which heralds spring. [...]
I was just outside, gathering oak twigs and branchlets for kindling; atop the hand-hewn redwood barn timber from Año Nuevo some branchlets were laid to dry. I went to retrieve them; two Western Fence Lizards were — what? — making love in their shelter. I knelt to watch them; they'd moved apart, within inches of my rapt gaze; I studied their intricately imbricated scales, which reminded me of polar zonohedra, I studied their eyes, so like my own, and whispered appreciation: they watched me closely as well. I compared the lengths of their toes and fingers, terminating in delicate claws; finally I seemed to see the eyes of what I took to be the female, dull, narrow; I thought, gosh, if I don't get out of the way, she many have no eggs this spring!! So I left.”
[Russell Towle's journal]
About the Western Fence Lizard:
“It is thought that the presence of western fence lizards diminishes the danger of transmission of Lyme disease by ticks. The incidence of Lyme disease is lower in areas where the lizards occur, and it has been found that when ticks carrying Lyme disease feed on these lizards (which they commonly do, especially around their ears), the bacteria that cause the disease are killed.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_fence_lizard
“March the First, 1988 afternoon; after several days of storm, the temperatures have dropped, and now hail rather than rain showers down; a sign that the storm has in the main moved past and to the east, and, since cyclonic, since in the northern hemisphere cyclonic storms rotate counter-clockwise (as seen from above), it then happens that, moving from west to east as is their wont, either north or south of the equator, they drag cold air in behind them. The same would be true south of the equator, where storms would begin with north winds, finish with southerlies; cold southerlies stemming from the pole and hastening equatorwards... the names given to the winds of the various quarters and octants by the Greeks and Romans reflect the characteristic weather-types associated with those winds throughout temperate latitudes; that is South Wind is cloud-bearing, sea-roiling; North-East Wind, hot and dry (sometimes cold and dry)...”
[Russell Towle's journal]
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 15:50:57 -0800
To: North_Fork_Trails Email Group
From: Russell Towle
Subject: Canyon Creek
Hi all,
I have put a few pictures taken along the Canyon Creek trail on a web page at:
http://northforktrails.com/RussellTowle/NorthFork/Trails/North_Fork_Trails.html
Cheers,
Russell Towle
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