Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts by Kevin Knauss not related to health insurance or other categories, usually editorials, travel essays, food, pictures and maps.
History may be posing a greater threat to the integrity of Folsom Dam than the terrorists. Recent road widening projects and dam improvements have uncovered several gold mining tunnels and shafts precariously close to the dykes which could comprise Folsom Dam. In attempt to safely probe the depths of a mine shaft between dykes 4 and 5, the Bureau of Reclamation pumped several thousand gallons into a large pit on top of the ridge this past August, 2013.
A dedicated group of volunteers with Organizing for Action gathered outside of Rep. Tom McClintock’s (R-CA) Granite Bay District Office to present him with the Unicorn Award for denying the existence of climate change. His refusal to believe in the overwhelming science that the earth’s climate is changing from man made green house gases is synonymous with believing that unicorns exist.
Maybe you can’t walk back in time, but you certainly can walk through part of California’s water history. Dug by hand in the side of the hill above the south fork of the Yuba River, the abandoned water canal and flumes have been transformed into a fairly easy, wheelchair accessible, hike. Named appropriately the Independence Trail, it’s more of a walk than a hike.
My first memory of the prolonged itching sensation on my arms and neck was during a summer school biology course when I was 14 years old. The distraction of constantly wanting to scratch while trying to focus on cutting up a frog was pure torture. This seemingly random condition, for which no other friend or family member suffered, would follow me through young adulthood and on into middle age.
A short but beautiful hike will take you along Hot Creek east of Mammoth Lakes. Hot Creek cuts across the Long Valley Caldera until it empties into the Owens River. This area was once a great volcano that exploded years ago leaving a bowl. The eastern portion of Hot Creek is reminiscent of Bumpass Hell in Lassen with scalding hot geothermal springs of water.
The question I was faced with was if by adding Google ads I was selling out and abandoning my core business? It might actually scare some folks away from calling me if they perceive my website as just another advertising sink. But what do I have to lose?
Before we got to the lake we helped a highly adorned scarab beetle right himself and cross the trail. We also got to see Osprey diving in Round Lake to catch fish. That was a pretty cool sight.
Amador City’s current mayor, Tim Knox, has a vision that this little gold rush berg might become a gay wedding destination as a means to help stabilize and improve the community. It sounds as if the residents, businesses and the organizational structure are on his side.
Rarely will I introduce Walker, as “my son” to somebody and I have never told him he must do something because he is “my son.” The absolute weakest excuse for compelling a child to modify his or her actions is because you own them in some weird parental sense.
Heck, I almost got us killed riding the motorcycle up to Apple Hill in Camino, CA, one autumn. On a back road with a steep hair pin curve on a blind corner I completely misjudged which gear I needed to be in to get up the slope. As I down shifted I had to go wide into the lane of on-coming traffic. If a car had come around the corner at that instant we would have been history.
