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Posts Tagged ‘Fun Facts’

Fun (and Informative) Fact Friday: Xeriscape

Posted in Big Bear Activities, Big Bear Lake, Fun Fact Friday, tagged , , on July 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

To finish off this week’s topic of Xeriscape, here are 7 informative facts about this water-conserving method of landscaping:

  • Approximately 50 percent of annual water production is used for landscape irrigation.
  • By following the “7 Principles of Xeriscape,” between 50 and 75 percent of the water used in traditional landscapes can be conserved.Xeriscape house
  • By grouping plants by water need, plants are healthier, easier to maintain and less susceptible to disease, requiring less use of pesticides and fertilizers.
  • A good xeriscape not only will save water, it also will increase your property value by as much as 15 percent.
  • There are different styles of xeriscape – natural, cottage, alternative turf, mountain and informal.
  • A typical community could increase its total vegetated area while simultaneously reducing water use significantly, primarily by replacing turf areas with trees and ground cover.
  • Many xeriscape designs include plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

If you are in Big Bear Lake this weekend, be sure to take the FREE Xeriscape Garden Tour. You will get tons of information and be able to see several examples of Xeriscape in action.

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Fun-Fact Friday: Wee-Craws and Fuzz-E Grubs

Posted in Big Bear Activities, Big Bear Lake, Fun Fact Friday, tagged , , , on May 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Back when I was a kid, my friends and I used to go down to the shore of Big Bear Lake in the summer and do some fishing. You have to understand that this was before cell phones, tablets, facebook, selfies, 892 cable channels and even before the internet. We actually had to go outside to be entertained. We spent our entire 3 months of summer outdoors – climbing trees, riding bikes, building forts, fishing….I think kids are really missing out by having so much technology at their fingertips. 😦

Anyway, when we went fishing, the only bait I remember using was worms and Velveeta cheese in a jar.  Apparently, bait has become a lot more advanced and fish specific. It also appears that it is all about the lures. They are extra showy and have funny names (made in Hollywood? 😉 ), but it seems that this is the way to catch a modern trout. I guess fish are harder to entertain these days as well. 🙂

Since there are a couple of fishing tourneys happening this weekend in Big Bear Lake, I thought I would share with you the best Trout lures (according to the all-knowing internet):

Courtesy of OutdoorLife.com

Rebel Wee-Craw
Designed to imitate a crawfish scooting across the bottom, this 2-inch-long crankbait reaches 5-7 feet. Formed with a tucked-under tail by the bill and bulging claws facing the aft treble, the Wee Craw (and its Teeny version) give the appearance of a fleeing crustacean.

Berkley Gulp!Trout Worm
When the fish need a finesse presentation, Berkley’s buoyant worm does the trick. Packed with the all-natural Gulp! scent attractant, the Trout Worm suspends off the bottom when fitted with a light wire hook. A good choice for float rigs, three-way rigs, or scaled-down dropshots.

Lindy Fuzz-E Grub
Trout like this grub’s soft-plastic body with its slick, life-like appearance and tantalizing marabou tail enhances the display. This, along with a two-color painted eye on the jig head prompts aggressive strikes and entices the fish to eat the whole bait, then hold on longer for greater hook sets.

Smithwick Rattlin’ Rogue
A good choice for larger trout, the Rogue offers lots of flash and erratic action, along with the ability to sit motionless – a common strike-triggering tactic. The bait’s nearly neutral buoyancy enables it to hold its position when paused and then dart away with the next twitch. Equipped with internal noisemakers, this Rogue is a good choice for cold or clear water.

Rebel Tracdown Minnow
The sinking version of the original Rebel Minnow, the Tracdown enables you to reach trout holding lower in the water column. Made for moving water, the bait’s straight tracking facilitates targeted presentations.


Strike King Bitsy Minnow
At 1 ¼ inches and 1/8 ounce, this little crank offers a bite-size morsel for feeding trout. Fished on light line, the enticing action and reflective eye makes this little crankbait appealing to fish, while ease of use makes it a good choice for kids and beginners.


Luhr-Jensen Hus Lure
With a narrow profile and compact design, the Hus Lure casts like a bullet and cuts through surface current to reach big-fish depths. An erratic minnow-like action produces strikes with minimal angler-imparted action. Swift currents will “work” the Hus Lure for you, but in lighter flows, slight rod twitches snap the bait forward so it can flutter back into the current.


Rapala Count Down
A consistent sink rate of one foot per second allows for precise targeting of specific depths whether the fish are suspended, at the weed tops or holding on bottom structure. Trolled or cast, this weighted balsa lure swims with a slow-rolling Rapala action. Sized well for stream trout, the inch-long, 1/16-ounce CD01 runs 1-3 feet and sports a single No. 12 treble.


Blue Fox Vibrax
With a 60° shallow depth blade, this detailed spinner runs from the surface to two feet, so it’s a good choice for shallow scenarios. The die cast and chrome plated body has a laser holographic painted finish and emits sonic vibration when the interior section strikes the outer bell. The treble hook is dressed with calf tail and tinsel for visual appeal and enhanced profile.


Mepps Comet Mino (Size #1)
The soft plastic minnow’s erratic swimming motion and hand-painted finish imitate an injured baitfish, while the flash and vibration of a Mepps spinner call attention to the presentation.

Mepps Little Wolf (Size 1/4)
Genuine silver plating and a reverse curve design yields intense flashing from this sturdy little spoon. Balanced for consistent side-to-side wobbling over a range of retrieval speeds, the spoon maintains its action when paused for an active fall. Ideal for 2- to 4-pound line and ultralight spinning tackle, the Little Wolf casts easily so it’s a great way to introduce kids and novices to the sport.

Mr. Twister Micro Crawfish
Sized and shaped to resemble a juvenile crawfish, the Mr. Twister Micro presents an irresistible meal for trout foraging over stream rocks. Rig this soft bait on a 1/64-ounce jighead and slowly scoot it over the bottom like a real crustacean.

Mr. Twister Twister Mite
Crafted to resemble a hellgrammite, this soft plastic bait performs well on a light Mister Twister jig head, a drop shot or a Carolina rig. Work the Twister Mite in an around structure to temp hungry trout.

 

 

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Fun-Fact Friday: Outsmarting Mother Nature!

Posted in Big Bear Information, Fun Fact Friday, tagged , , , on December 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

snowmaking-588x440How do Big Bear Mountain Resorts provide world-class skiing and snowboarding when Mother Nature is being a bit, well…difficult? Snowmaking. Here is some interesting information and facts about our local resort’s snowmaking systems. Courtesy of SnowSummit.com

Snowmaking Basics

Man-made snow is real snow (not “artificial”) made by “guns” spraying atomized water particles under high pressure into the cold dry atmosphere, which freeze into snow particles before they hit the ground. The colder and drier the air, the more water can be put through the gun. No additive or chemical is put in the water.  The only difference between natural and man-made snow is that the latter falls as small round pellets due to the air turbulence, while natural usually comes in the form of small to large flakes.  However, in windy conditions even natural snow will be blown into small pellets or even marble-sized balls called “grapple”.  Natural snow can be very wet or dry, depending on its water content, the same as with man-made.  After two or three days on the ski runs, natural snow becomes indistinguishable from man-made as both are subject to skier traffic, grooming, and the freeze/thaw cycle.

Buried Pipelines

Many miles of buried steel air and water pipe lines, from 2 inches to 2 feet in diameter, deliver the high pressure water and air throughout the mountain. Attached to the main lines are hydrants placed on the sides of runs, every 50 to 150 feet or so. Each resort has about 500 hydrants lining its runs. The “air” guns are attached to the hydrants by air and water hoses and the “fan” guns by water hoses and electrical lines.  The guns are placed exactly where the snow is to be made and when enough snow is made at one location, they are moved to another.

The Guns

We use two types of snowmaking guns. One uses compressed air mixed with water at the gun (which is really just a tube with a small nozzle at the end) to atomize the water into particles small enough to freeze quickly. The other “airless” type uses an electric fan in a 5 foot long by 2 ½ foot wide tube that pushes an air stream into which small particles of water are sprayed by dozens of tiny nozzles on the rim of the tube.  (Fan guns aren’t completely “airless”; there is a small on-board compressor that helps to atomize the water at the nozzles.) If we just sprayed water straight out from a hose, without atomizing the water, it would be like rain water droplets that are too big to freeze before they hit the ground, which would then freeze on the ground as ordinary ice.

The colder and drier the air, the more snow can be made at each gun since more water can be introduced into the outside air mass because it can freeze faster. In 2006, about 70 “airless” fan guns and about 80 “air” guns can operate at one time at Snow Summit alone.  Bear Mountain operates about 45 fans and 90 air guns respectively.  (We actually have several types of air guns, but they all function basically the same way.) A number of both types of guns are mounted on towers, from 6 to 20 feet high.  While they can’t be moved to put the snow exactly where desired, they produce more snow than guns close to the surface because there is more “hang time” for the water particles to freeze before they hit the ground.

Tremendous Snow Production

Each gun can produce an amazing amount of snow in good conditions (5% to 20% humidity and 10° to 20° F), much faster than Mother Nature.  A compressed snowmaking28bgair gun can convert about 70 gallons per minute (gpm) into snow while a fan gun can convert up to 200 gpm in those conditions. (Consider that a garden hose puts out about 3 to 5 gpm.) So, in ideal conditions, each resort’s system can convert about 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of water per minute into snow! That’s a good sized stream flow that could fill a backyard pool in about 5 minutes! If a gun is left unmoved in those conditions, it can make several feet in front of it in a few hours, sometimes burying itself.

We can’t put 5,000 gallons per minute worth of snow on just one run at a time due to the limitations of pipe sizes and number of hydrants, so instead, we make snow on several runs at one time and might put an average of one foot of snow down on each. In normal snowmaking conditions we can open a run in about 48 hours of snowmaking over bare ground. At the start of the season, we typically open several runs and lifts after a couple of days and nights of snowmaking, and open still more soon after that.

snowmaking14bgSnowmaking Water

The practically unlimited water source for Big Bear Mountain Resort’s large scale snowmaking is Big Bear Lake. It’s pumped from the lake to the resorts and then up the mountains. Multi-million gallon reservoirs on the resorts store water for heavy production because the lines from the lake can’t flow enough water at those times. This lake water supply is the main reason Big Bear’s resorts can virtually guarantee skiing on most runs all winter long, even in the driest winter. Throughout the season, Summit and Bear each can produce at least twice the snow of any other local resort, which rely on limited amounts of on-site well water.

We have an annual allotment from the lake that we have never needed to exceed.  If used entirely, it would draw the lake level, when full, down only about 4 inches – and at least 50% of that runs back into the lake during the spring snowmelt!

Grooming

Grooming by snowcats pushing and tilling the man-made snow is an important element in providing good skiing. While the snowmaking guns are moved frequently, there typically will be piles left in front of each gun which must be graded into a smooth, relatively flat surface before operations. After a good period of snowmaking some of these snow mounds may be as big as a small bus and are called “whales” by the crew. After the new snow is spread evenly, the surface is gone over with a tiller on the back of the cat, which is a sort of grinder that pulverizes the top 3 to 6 inches of the snow to give it the ideal texture for skiing or boarding. Grooming is a real art to know when and how to push the snow around and condition it into a good grippy surface preferred by skiers and snowboarders. Fresh man-made snow is nearly always groomed into a consistently good surface prior to opening.

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Fun-Fact Friday: Music Makes You Healthier!

Posted in Fun Fact Friday, tagged , , on June 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I know from experience that listening to and playing music can improve my mood. Depending on what I am listening to, it can relax me, give me energy, make me happy or give me drive (such as when I am working out). Well, a recent study (reported by Medical News Today) proves that theory and more. There are actual mental AND physical health benefits that music provides. Here is the story:

Playing and listening to music benefits both mental and physical health.

The finding came from the first-large scale review of 400 research papers in the neurochemistry of music which found that music can improve the function of the body’s immune system and reduce levels of stress.

Listening to music was also shown to be more successful than prescription drugs in decreasing a person’s anxiety before undergoing surgery.

A report from 2011 indicated that anxiety in cancer patients can be reduced by music. Prof. Levitin explained:

“We’ve found compelling evidence that musical interventions can play a health care role in settings ranging from operating rooms to family clinics. But even more importantly, we were able to document the neurochemical mechanisms by which music has an effect in four domains: management of mood, stress, immunity and as an aid to social bonding.”

Results showed that music increases an antibody that plays an important role in immunity of the mucous system, known as immunoglobulin A, as well as natural killer cell counts, the cells that attack germs and bacteria invading the body.

Listening to and playing music can also lower levels of cortisol (the stress hormone), according to Levitin and Dr. Mona Lisa Chanda, his postgraduate research fellow.

Previous research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry demonstrated that music therapy, when combined with standard care, is a successful treatment for depression.

The experts recommend a number of areas for later trials in the field. For example, identifying the relationship between the “love drug” oxytocin, group affiliation and music.

They suggested administering naltrexone (an opioid antagonist drug used when a person is having alcohol withdrawal) to determine whether musical pleasure is encouraged by the same chemical systems in the brain activated by other types of pleasure, such as food.

A study from 2011 suggested that thrilling music is similar to food and sex – more pleasure and anticipation means more dopamine.

The authors also urged for studies “in which patients are randomly assigned to musical intervention or a rigorously matched control condition in post-operative or chronic pain trials.” The pointed out that proper controls include TV, comedy recordings, audio books, or films.

The report, published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
(Report written by Sarah Glynn)

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Fun Fact Friday: The Secret Lives of Raccoons

Posted in Big Bear Lake, Fun Fact Friday, tagged , , , on October 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Raccoons are so cute! and smart…and sneaky…and destructive…Well, we all have our dark side, don’t we? Here is an in-depth look at one of Big Bear’s most loved (and hated) critters.

The North American Raccoon gets its name from the Algonquin word arakun, which means ‘one who scratches with his hands’ and its scientific name is Procyon lotor, which means ‘washer dog’. They got this name because it was once thought that they washed their food before eating it -which, considering what they eat, is probably not a bad idea! Raccoons are omnivores – they can and will eat anything – plants, fruits, insects, rodents, garbage, roadkill, and the occasional bowl of dog kibble. They have very nimble fingers that they eat with and have no trouble opening trash cans, jars or doors and even have the ability to unlace a shoe. (So that is who keeps untying my shoes!)

These masked bandits are nocturnal (active at night) and are considered ‘generalists’, which means that they can adapt to nearly any environment and food source. Raccoons do not construct their own dens. They live in tree holes, abandoned dens, chimneys, attics and under the house or deck. They are squatters! During the autumn months, they pack on extra weight to get them through the winter. The largest animal on record weighed in at 60 pounds! They do not hibernate, but they sleep a lot during the cold winter months and do not want to go out in the harsh weather. (I know how they feel!)

Raccoons are good swimmers, can run up to 15 mph and they are great climbers – they are one of the few animals that can descend a tree head first. They can even drop from a height of 35 – 40 feet and be unharmed. They can make a wide range of sounds including purring, whistling, growling, hissing, screaming and even whinnying. (So if you hear a horse at your door, make sure you check the peephole,  it might just be a sneaky raccoon doing his Mr. Ed impersonation! )

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