January 2022

Pastor hikes road to glory with heavy cross

Pastor Wes Mauch took a road less traveled through Valley Center, carrying a 38-pound wooden cross, a well-worn Bible and message all the way to Rancho Santa Fe. Mauch, 66, walked along the side of Cole Grade Road, wooden cross on his shoulder and all, “doing what Jesus asked me to do,” he said while vehicular traffic whizzed by as if he were invisible. When…


More nuclear power is no solution to climate crisis

If you live in Orange or San Diego County, hopefully you’re aware that San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) has been turned into a nuclear waste dump for the foreseeable future. If you live on planet earth, you’re wise to be tracking domestic and foreign moves to increase reliance on nuclear energy. The United States ushered in the atomic age in 1945 by dropping a…


First survey of California’s bees in 50 years will look for effects of habitat destruction

When you think of California in the 1970s, maybe you think of hippies, Fleetwood Mac or skateboards. But if you’re an entomologist, you might think of all the natural spaces that have since been devoured by urbanization and wonder what happened to the native bees that lived in them. The question isn’t one of mere nostalgia or curiosity. Insect populations around the world are plunging…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 2: ‘Night of the Living Poets’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ CHAPTER TWO Following the Saints playoff loss, Tyger and his friend Armor’s Tungsten attend an open-mike poetry night at the Blue Bayou club on Tchopitoulas Street.   CHAPTER 2 “Night of the Living Poets”   “SURVEILLANCE PELICANA” Chapter…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 3: ‘What a Revolting Development This Is’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/   CHAPTER  THREE Poetry night continues at the Blue Bayou. Events take an unpropitious turn towards ugliness due to a convergence of circumstances attributable to karmic order. Mona Mona and her friend Roger initiate a riot resulting in…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 4: ‘IRS Inc.’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN  The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/   CHAPTER FOUR Tyger interviews at Marrero for an insurance investigator’s position with Dorothy Lafleur of Information Retrieval Services (IRS) Inc. The position is explained and Tyger is hired. He begins his first assignment at Kenner with a negative…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 5: ‘People Behaving Badly’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN (The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/.) Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/) Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/)   CHAPTER FIVE Tyger works a case at Avondale. This chapter contrasts the official details of investigation with actual impressions. The Subject has a car accident while under observation. Tyger also works Hassan Ibn Ben Hassan in a…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 6: ‘Waking the Dead at MacLand and Bobby’s’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/   CHAPTER SIX Waking the Dead at MacLand and Bobby’s Mac Long and Sarah Ivy, friends of Tyger, hold court at MacLand. They make local derelict Clyde get out of the trash. Some bongo jamming takes place. Later, Tyger,…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 7: ‘Super Sleuth’s Eye of the Tyger’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ CHAPTER SEVEN Joe Fine, the Super Sleuth, former Israeli agent and president of IRS Inc., arrives at New Orleans International Airport. Tyger meets and greets him. They go to Dorothy’s house where Joe Fine demonstrates the secret video surveillance…


Surveillance Pelicana Chapter 8: ‘Dis Side of Da Bayou Blue’

SURVEILLANCE PELICANA BY DAN WEISMAN The entire book appears at this link with chapters added after appearing online: Chapters 1-10: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-full-book-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/. Chapters 11-20: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-ii-chapters-11-to-20-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ Chapters 21-30: https://www.escondidograpevine.com/surveillance-pelicana-part-iii-chapters-21-to-30-chapters-added-as-they-appear-online/ CHAPTER EIGHT Tyger leaves early in the day for an assignment deep in Cajun country at Cocodrie, Terrebonne Parish. Numerous observations are made concerning the bayou country and strange ways of the people. After some confusion, Tyger sets…