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Cathryn Rakich

Editor and Home Design and Pets Columnist

About This Author

Cathryn Rakich has been a writer and editor in the Sacramento area for 35 years, with articles in local, state and national publications. She is also active in the animal-welfare community, volunteering for local animal rescue groups. Her latest endeavor is as a ceramics artist.

Articles by this author

Coyote Calling

The large plastic bin holds everything coyote. Color brochures and door hangers, binders with Power Point presentations, a paw print casting, faux fur, teeth and scat.

The contents are Guy Galante’s arsenal to talk about his favorite subject: coyotes.

The Carmichael native is a local naturalist, educator and wildlife photographer. Some people call him a coyote specialist, but he admits to no formal training in the species, “other than 20 years of boots on the ground,” Galante says. “Coyotes teach you everything you need to know.”

Galante’s fascination with coyotes began while working at Gold River Elementary School. He taught kids about the flora and fauna of the American River Parkway using a book of black and white drawings. He wanted to create a color photo version of the book.

Passion For Pottery

Clay bowls, cups, vessels and vases crowd open shelving. Some of the ceramic pieces are finished with swirling earth-toned glazes. Others await their turn in a kiln.

Buckets of home-mixed glazes line one wall from top to bottom. Ceramicist tools and art supplies fill plastic bins. Pottery wheels sit side by side, adjacent to long high-top working tables.

23C Studio is a ceramic arts cooperative tucked away in a warehouse at 23rd and C streets in Midtown. The space is dusty and rustic, open to the weather, no air conditioning and limited heating. But the studio is fully equipped for wheel throwing and hand building, creating and collaborating.

Magpie Magic

I used to take yellow-billed magpies for granted. In my younger years, flocks were everywhere in and around Sacramento.

Then West Nile Virus hit. By 2007, the gregarious black and white bird with the golden beak was decimated. Bird counts in the Central Valley declined by 80%.

Magpies, crows, ravens and jays—all in the corvid family—are susceptible to West Nile Virus. “They all crashed,” says Dan Airola, a local research wildlife biologist who has studied feathered species for decades.

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Dedicated ‘Doer’

When Warren Truitt and his family arrived in Sacramento in 1981, his 15-year-old son jumped on his bike and discovered the American River Parkway.

“He came home and was so excited,” Truitt recalls. “He said, ‘Dad, you have to ride with me.’”

That launched Truitt’s passion for biking. He rode for 38 years, covering 222,000 miles. “Almost to the moon,” he says.

Riding the bike trail also sparked his interest in conservation efforts to protect the American River Parkway.