SanLuisObispo.com: Multimedia

Anglers to put skills to use in fish study

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:23 PDT

By David Sneed -- Dozens of recreational anglers will take to San Luis Obispo County waters beginning this month as part of one of the largest collaborative fisheries research projects in state history.

Sportfishing boats from Morro Bay and Port San Luis will make a dozen trips to waters off Point Buchon and Montaña de Oro State Park through October, and volunteers will catch, tag and release rockfish and other shallow-water species.

The study will look at fish stocks from San Mateo County to San Luis Obispo County.

San Miguel cafe’s specialty isn’t even on the menu

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:56 PDT

By P. Kim Bui -- At 7 a.m. Thursday, there are still quite a few empty seats at the Country Diner in San Miguel, but the diner is full of conversation. Carl is talking about his wife seeking alternative medicine. John discusses horses with Carl. Millie is chatting with Cliff about life in general and how nice the new downtown sidewalks are.

Owner Linda Mora keeps the coffee cups full and knows the name of practically everyone who walks in the door to sit down at the blue, horseshoe-shaped counter.

Mora wears a blue apron and has a sharp wit, never failing to make a comment full of common sense. Her hair is carefully done, and no one knows quite how old she is, although they always ask, she said. As a mother of five, she has eyes in the back of her head and seems to know everything going on in the diner.

Royal renovation

Fri, 18 May 2007 17:50 PDT

By Kathe Tanner -- Hearst Castle crews are taking the do-it yourself approach to fixing the museum's famous Neptune Pool, now drained for the second time in two years because of leaks.

The main part of the pool is 104 feet long and 58 feet wide, stretching to 95 feet wide at an alcove. Able to hold 345,000 gallons of water -- enough to fill more than a dozen typical backyard pools -- it's surrounded by a colonnade and statuary in the classical style, including a depiction of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.

The pool was completed in the 1930s. When a leak was detected in 2006, it had been more than a decade since the pool was last drained. The 2003 San Simeon Earthquake, with its magnitude of 6.5, may have contributed to leaks, said restoration supervisor Bruce Jackson of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, which has owned the Castle since 1957.