The 1935 theatrical cartoon, The Sunshine Makers, created by Van Beuren Studios and distributed by RKO Pictures tells the tale of a community of identical gnomes who distill sunshine into an elixir. Those who drink…
Posts published by “Malcolm Macdonald”
You want your terrorist scares. The ISIS of the natural world resides in your backyard or, at most, the field beyond. We're talking cats. Cats kill at least one billion birds per year. Some estimates…
I am surrounded by words: Newspapers, magazines, and mailings of all sorts mess up my desk, which is really just the southwest corner of this ranch house's kitchen. When there is no company, no visitors,…
When I entered this world the Macdonald family had already been engaged in the dual activities of cattle ranching and sheep herding for decades. On the Great Plains, at the turn of the 19th Century…
Last week I attended four public meetings in three days. It would have been three in one day if I hadn't taken time out to castrate a bull calf here at the ranch. Who knows…
A close inspection of the May 3rd agenda for Mendocino County's Board of Supervisors shows this item in the Consent Calendar: “Denial of Claim from Mendocino Redwood Company, LLC for a Refund of Property Taxes.”…
Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH) projects an $835,000 budget deficit for the coming fiscal year. That was the bottom line of an April 26th informational gathering held just before the MCDH Finance Committee meeting had…
In Fort Bragg, California, where the name of its earliest entrepreneur, Alexander Macpherson, is misspelled on street signs, things often get screwed up. The April 22nd League of Women Voters (LWV) forum on Measure U…
On April 20, 1611 Shakespeare's Scottish play was first performed in London's Globe Theater. Of course, we are not referring to the lead character by name because of the curse placed on Shakespeare and company 405 years ago when they stole a cauldron from an actual coven to enact the three witches scene. The real witches retaliated by placing an everlasting curse on the play and the utterance of its title.