Next time your buddy brags about the big trout he caught, you might mention Ian Welch and the giant stingray.
The British biologist set a new record for a freshwater fish caught by rod and reel when he landed the 772-pound, seven-foot-long stingray in Thailand. Welch was working on a program of tagging the endangered stingrays when he snagged the fish, which nearly dragged him off the boat before others grabbed him.
The stingray, which had a 10-foot-long barbed tail, was taken to shore, where it was tagged. It took 13 people to lift it. Then they released the big fish, so you could go over there and catch it again.
To read the full story (with photo) click here.
- Another neat story from the wire services, from right in Tehama County: Monks at the Abbey of New Clairvaux near Vina are reassembling an 800-year-old building, and expect to have it completed by the end of the year. The Spanish meeting house was dismantled and brought to the United States in 1931 by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. The monks have been raising money and working on the building for five years. Full story here.
- Of all the weird automated voices that call our phone, the strangest one has to be from the Redding Library. The computer-generated voice called yesterday to tell me my “hold” books were ready for pickup. The voice, complete with pauses and misreads (“Stef-an Bre-wer”), gives me the creeps, but it always brings good news. If you don’t used the library’s much-improved website, you’re missing out. You can search the catalog, find books and other materials you need and put holds on them. Then you pick them up just inside the front door of the library. Very handy, if you can stand that weird voice. To check out the many features of the library’s website, click here.
- What I’m Reading: “No Time for Goodbye” by Linwood Barclay. In this suburban thriller, a 14-year-old girl awakens to find that her parents and brother have disappeared. No evidence of a crime or a planned escape. They’re just gone. Great opening gambit. Can’t wait to see what Barclay, a columnist for the Toronto Star, does with it.
Tips appreciated: Send news tidbits to steveb.anewscafe@gmail.com.
