(slurring words, shouting erratically…) “Is this a gay bar?!” (Annie, with patience….) “No Kirsten, its just a dive.” We followed the Christmas Star to get here as wise m

Following up on my slow-news-day-blogpost-series leader from the other day, “A Picture of a Bug,” today I present a picture of some deer. Well, I like them. It was hot waiting in the sun for them to pose. For some reason, they were camera shy.

With a little care, you can grow just about any crop you want in temperate Redding. Outside. Using no electricity. Yet our town boasts enough retail establishments selling hydroponic gardening gear to serve a colony on the moon. You can even see them advertising on billboards in town. Why is that? Of course

I have this small statue in the garden. I have been asked if I am Buddhist. I’m not, although I find myself in alignment with several of the important concepts. Things like impermanence,

I was looking for some information about the long vanished Golden Eagle Hotel in Redding when I stumbled upon a Business Directory for Redding from 1904 at a Genealogical Site. Looking through the list of the businesses from 106 yea

Here at ReallyRedding, I sometimes have lovely local images to share, or perhaps some amusing or topical observation. But then today, I find myself posting a picture of a bug I took yesterday. Well, it was a rilly inneresting bug, I tell ya. Days like today, I have some sympathy for the local paid bloggers, lookin

Local residents in need of food assistance can buy fresh organic fruit and vegetables from local farmers using the EBT system at Redding’s Certified Organic Farmer’s Market. This capability allows folks with food assistance money to buy something other than the prepared foods available in retail outlet

We like odd yard art here. Here’s an example. What better example of americana can you imagine than a decorated rusting American car, neatly displayed with a metal pine tree? As seen on Verda Street in the Garden Tract. It’s Really Redding.

One more look at our 4th of July 2010, with an image I took of Erin at Mt Shasta cavorting with street fairies. Erin processed the image till it looked quite surreal, and posted it in Facebook. But it was real, alright. It just looks so …odd. Just another day in Mt Shasta.

We received the email invitation to Rivers Restaurant for their 4th of July Dinner: “Your 7-Course evening will begin with appetizers, and culminate with dessert and the largest fireworks display in Northern California.” Wow. We’ve been trying to shed a few pounds, but this seems w

No, not for dinner. Well, perhaps dinner for something. But here we see an overheated squirrel taking advantage of the cool comfort offered by shaded concrete block. All Redding’s critters know that afternoon means siesta time, on a hot July day. Probably both hunters and prey play by the same rules, so it&#

I took this quick shot yesterday afternoon from Lema Ranch in Redding. This classic supercell looked almost like a mushroom cloud. Mineral is about 70 miles from Redding by car, so you can just imagine the huge size of this structure in the sky. This from

I received a call from Lynette Gooch of River Cities Paranormal Society, NorCal Chapter. It seems she had run across an entry in another blog post I wrote about a Redding house for sale with some paranormal qualities. I assured her my post was meant to be entirely tongue in cheek, as it happens. But her intentions were c

We went up to Mt Shasta again this year for Independence Day. We did the fun walk. The t-shirt color was red this year. We are a sea of red. The weather was excellent, as usual. It’s a serious run for some, and people come from around the country.

“Red dirt and rocks,” is how Raymond Miller describes his 10 acre organic farm out off Bowman Road in Cottonwood. For 28 years, Ray has found the hard row was the right road for him. Chard, onions, turnips, and squash of all sorts are for sale today. “I started out with kiwi, 28 years ago.&

Craig brought his kiddos over for a swim, and I took a few shots. Cute kids. Swimming is integral to life during a Redding summer. Kids need to be waterproof here.

Spotted this ugly cat rummaging around in my backyard last night, apparently cleaning snails in the pond(?). Have you misplaced your homely kitty who washes snails? You may claim it here. It didn’t respond well to “Here kitty kitty.” It kind of hissed, actually.

RS wag Bruce Ross was wondering if you could see the Burney wind turbines from Redding. Yep. These images were taken yesterday, shimmering in the heat. This is from a ridge overlooking Walgreens and Starbucks on Lake Blvd.

Just a few more Lake Shasta shots to stoke the Summer season. All taken a few days ago.

Break out the vuvuzuelas! ReallyRedding gets a new look! Our old look was starting to appear tattered and worn out. The software was 5 years old; a dogs age in computerland terms. I nearly lost the entire blog back in ’09. It was time. Actually, it was way

A few days ago, I previewed a bank owned house located on Little Cow Creek in eastern Shasta County. Not far from that property, was this vision in a meadow. Pointed in the right direction, ready to head downstream in a Really Big Flood. Or maybe a rising sea.

Coolest/hottest new restaurant in Redding. We welcome Kobe and wish them great success! The only thing more delicious than these images is actually eating there. It’s Really Redding.

Check it out! A group of kids from Evergreen School found a skylight to a Martian lava tube. A familiar geological feature to Northern California cavers, here in volcano country. Real science, but then we have high expectations of our kids around here. Click the image for more. Congratulations Evergreen!

I recommend you spend some time here. I admire Dottie’s work very much. She is quite an asset to our community. Check it out.

Here’s a few images of the lake I took the other day. Stunning beauty everywhere. Yeah, that’s why we live here. Not Really Redding, but just up the road a bit.

I took this image at the Certified Organic Farmer’s Market last Saturday. Looks like the number of vendors and farmers has seen a certifiably healthy increase. However you can also buy from local farms direct, all week long. This Strawberry Farm is on Hwy 299E, just across from Intermountain Road in Be

Just a reminder that it’s Spectator Appreciation Weekend at the Redding Dragstrip, and admission to the eastside is FREE FREE FREE. Come on out for inexpensive thrills! Tough economy got you down? How does FREE sound? I thought so.

This weekend is Spectator Appreciation Weekend at the Redding Dragstrip. You can get in FREE for the action on both Saturday an Sunday, June 12 & 13, for seating in the Eastside Bleachers. Qualifying starts at 10 am. Pit Pass and Westside Bleachers admission is

“Act as though it were impossible to fail. A positive attitude helps bridge the gap between ability and aspiration.” Shasta Lake School principal Helen Herd quotes Emerson at the Shasta Lake School website. Longtime residents may remember this school as Deer Cr

I stumbled upon this unique narrative, and want to share. This blog follows the lives of a homeless young girl Alice, and her father Kev. They are Sims. For those unfamiliar, Sims 3 is a complex and very popular computer simulation game that allows players to build communities of simulated people living simulated lives. Al

Happily, I was invited to this wedding by Erin’s friend Kimberly, of Kimberly Nicole Boutique. You may recognize the couple. She and Cleveland are also on the cover of the new June issue of Enjoy Magazine. The ceremony and reception was held in the Atrium at the south end of the Promenade, behind Leatherby’s. It

So gorgeous. Bring your boats!

Take a look. Bring your boat.

We celebrated Coldwell Banker C&C Properties 30th anniversary with a party last Wednesday. Here’s a short video of the festivities.

We celebrated Coldwell Banker C&C Properties 30th anniversary with a party last Wednesday. Here’s a short video of the festivities.

Yesterday’s video reminded me that I did a sort of naturescape video/photo tour of Redding last February, and then never posted it. Take a look. Fairy Rings in our fair city from Skip Murphy on Vimeo. During a break in our Winter weather, I went to a bluff overlooking the Sacramento River to shoot some panoramas of [

You won’t recognize the place after watching this short video. And this was recorded a few days before our Deepwater Chernobyl. We keep trying to help the salmon that swim by our River City. But they have to go and grow up in the ocean. And we wonder why there are fewer every year. It’s all [...]

As promised, we took a few more shots of the 2010 Asphalt Cowboys pancake breakfast at Roaring Gulch in Redding. The music we used is something of a funny story. I am very sensitive about using another artist’s music on a video without permission, since I’ve had that happen to my music. YouTube has a library [.

Loved this shot of Chita and Erin at the Asphalt Cowboys Pancake Breakfast from a few minutes ago. They hope for 11,000 breakfasts served this year. Wow. Took a bunch of shots, more to follow, no doubt. It’s Really Redding.

They finally release the video. The lighter colored stuff is liquefied natural gas. But hey, who’s on American Idol tonight?

The recent Deepwater Horizon/BP oil blowout is big. How big? Here’s a map of the spill, only spread over Shasta County. Paul Rademacher is using GoogleEarth to give us all a better understanding of the size and scope of the problem. Although the news is using phrases like “the size of Delaware,” it can be

This song reminds me of the anonymous comment writers over at Redding.com. Which thus reveals my personal bias, and my tendency to generalize.

“I still recall my mother’s first words to me: ‘I haven’t killed anyone in years, but never think that I’ve forgotten how.’” Warren Ellis You should have a soft heart as a mom, but if you have a soft head too, your progeny are doomed. Skip Murphy Not exactly Hallmark card material, but Happy Mo

I didn’t think so either, but then I saw this one. We were eating lunch somewhere north of Sacramento when this critter floated by. Much too large for an otter, I thought at first I might be seeing a sturgeon, until it grew closer. Well that’s just odd. The locals said there were several around. I [...]

Returning from Chico, we came across the grisly aftermath of a horrific highway accident on Highway 99. All that remained was the cleanup crew dealing with the wreckage of a fuel truck. We learned later that a very young woman had attempted to pass some vehicles on this dangerous stretch. The driver of the fuel truck [...]

Join the Shasta SOB (Society of Brewers) on Saturday May 1 for National Big Brew Day. See home brew being made. Across from the Library in Redding. Click to the Shasta Society of Brewers webpage for more. Big brews, it’s Really Redding.

Okay, so this green frog and I are not actually formally acquainted. But he or she does live in my yard, on my Rhododendron. Another sign we’re having a good rain year. It’s Really Redding.

Manzanita is truly ubiquitous around here. The hardy bush thrives in solid clay, hard rock, and parched earth. I’ve sometimes heard harsh language used to describe this tenacious plant, for all sorts of reasons. But then I’ve seen the leaves sparkle in morning frost and dew. And I’ve admired the sculptural

I wrote on this same topic a year ago. This year, we may vote to remove the marijuana prohibition. Probably, you will soon see campaign rhetoric heat up. When you see arguments against removing prohibition, I ask you to consider who will benefit most from leaving the status quo in place. Illegal drug cartels Marijuana dispe

The weather was perfect. The cars were fabulous. There is not much to say about Kool April Nights that has not already been said. Just another reason why Redding is the greatest place to live ever. I took a great many shots, and here’s just a few. Kool April Nights 2010. It’s Really Redding.