One of my favorite birds is the roadrunner. Not only did Warner Bros. make the roadrunner a household name, but they also gave it tons of personality. Nearly everyone who lives in California knows something about the roadrunner. Roadrunners are desert birds, so you can see them almost anywhere in California,...

The largest species of yucca is the Joshua tree. It lives primarily in the Mojave Desert but can also be found in a small part of the Sonoran Desert, in the pine forest in the San Bernardino Mountains, and in a little corner of Utah. It grows at 2,000 to 6,000 feet. Archaeological evidence dates the...

In Greek, Titus Andronicus is a noble Roman. The name means pleasing, saved, and refers to Titan of the giants. But in Santa Clarita, Titus Andronicus is a cat. He’s not just any cat; he’s all of the above, as well. And he owns me. Titus Andronicus is a Savannah. A Savannah is a cross between an...

President Obama signed a proclamation Friday to create a new national monument in the San Gabriel Mountains, consisting of 346,177 acres. This is a project that dozens of citizens have worked on for at least a decade. U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis first imagined these mountains in national recreation area and...

When I was growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut. The idea of gazing down at the Earth’s beautiful blue oceans held a special place in my heart. I dreamed about exploring alien planets, having adventure after adventure, and discovering alien life. I loved fast rides at the theme parks, and I thought...

I’ve hiked, fished, picnicked and camped in the Angeles National Forest for as long as I can remember. My mother had me toddling along after her on the trails when I was 2. Needless to say, I’ve grown up loving the Angeles National Forest. Nearly every weekend, my family was in the forest playing....

Migraines. I have them. More than 50 percent of the women I know have them, and even a few men I know suffer from migraines. If you’ve never had a migraine, you have no idea what your migraine enduring friends are going through. Migraines have driven people to suicide because they just couldn’t take...

Sustainability, one of the new  buzz words we all love to throw around, is not a new concept. The Native Americans practiced sustainability as a way of life. They hunted, gathered and farmed, but they didn’t pillage the land to the point that nothing was left. Thus, every year there were ample amounts...

One of the places that captivated my attention early in life was the Racetrack, or playa, in Death Valley. This is where the moving rocks – aka sailing stones, rolling stones, sliding rocks, peripatetic rocks – move. The Racetrack is a dry lakebed, and the moving rocks did just that – they...

William Mulholland has played a huge role in all of our lives. Without his efforts to bring water to Los Angeles, most of us probably wouldn’t be here. He was responsible for the creation of a massive water system that not only changed the course of our history, but brought most of us here. One hundred...