Apr 28, 2024
My husband and I live two blocks from the American River Parkway. Dog walks are daily events along dirt paths lined with old oaks and thick sagebrush. The river flows steps away.
We share space with snowy egrets, pond turtles, mallard ducks and Canada geese. Occasionally a family of mule deer allows us to pass.
The problem with having a majestic river in your backyard?
Sacramento is one of the most at-risk areas for flooding in the United States, reports the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Apr 28, 2024
Dags was named for the dagger-shaped marking on the back of his neck. A mix of husky, pit bull and lab, the big mutt lives with owner Joey Rival at the Safe Stay Community on Florin Road.
The community offers cabin-style shelters for 125 unhoused guests and their pets.
“I take Dags everywhere I go,” says Rival, who moved to Safe Stay last November. At the time, his 2-year-old canine companion was not neutered.
That’s when Sacramento County’s PAWS (Pet Aid & Wellness Services) Mobile Clinic stepped in.
Apr 28, 2024
Finally got around to reading the city auditor’s “Preliminary Report on the City’s Homeless Response.” Hated it. Then I read it again. Loved it.
People told me the report was a lightweight, whitewashed effort, a statistical compendium lacking analysis on how the city’s political leadership failed to manage encampments, drug sales, fires and crime.
On the surface, critics were right. The report makes zero effort to analyze decisions that turned Sacramento into a national disgrace, a place where tents line sidewalks, enforcement is discouraged and residential pleas for help are answered with, “Sorry, nothing we can do.”
Apr 28, 2024
Kind-hearted folks adopt rescue dogs. I adopted a rescue potato.
Like a dog, the humble rescue potato requires food, water and loving care. A potato will not offer companionship or cute tail wagging, but the reward is embracing an abandoned, endangered edible. Plus, good eating.
My potato already had a name, Bodega Red. Once, it was the star spud of the Bodega Bay and Tomales Bay area. Sorely neglected, Bodega Red was thought to be extinct more than 50 years ago.
Apr 28, 2024
At age 25, Lauren Hamilton became stepmom to three young boys. Recognizing she needed help, she searched for a book to assist with her tricky new role.
Nothing spoke to her experience, so Hamilton wrote the book herself.
“I kept finding all these love stories and I was definitely not living this happily-ever-after. I was navigating the trenches,” the Arden Oaks resident recalls. “I had days where I remember questioning, is this even worth it? How am I going to make it till they’re 18?
