Local Life

Check It Out: Camping with kids can be 'Down and Dirty' good time

It's that time of year when a sun-filled day gets everyone thinking about outdoor activities. No more being cooped up inside waiting for a break from a weeklong rain event. No more months of hibernation. We're heading outside, no bones about it!

Battle Ground school jazz concert features Mic Gillette

Professional jazz trumpeter-trombonist Mic Gillette will be featured in a jazz concert from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday in the Lair at Battle Ground High School, 300 W. Main St., Battle Ground. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Bits 'n' Pieces: Fighting the sounds of silence

Gayle Beacock believes in the life-changing power of music.

Try This: All aboard for mothers

Chelatchie Prairie Railroad will offer a special trip for Mother's Day, and visitors can ride on the newly restored steam engine. The historic railroad ride travels through the forests of north Clark County on a 12-mile round-trip that includes Moulton Falls and a 330-foot rock tunnel.

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Clark County

Dining Out: Main Event is a winner with casual excellence

Friendly, lively sports grill extends imaginative menu to second location

Main Event's first location in downtown Vancouver has become a successful fixture of the Clark County dining scene. Having recently opened a second spot to serve the east side of Clark County, it delivers the same inventive food and level of excellent service diners have enjoyed at the downtown restaurant.

Black Angels keep pushing boundaries

Psychedelic rockers strive to add dimension, creativity to live shows

For the Black Angels one ongoing goal is change.

What do moms want? Togetherness

Mother’s Day activities not nearly as important as spending quality time with family

Forget brunch.

Bits 'n' Pieces: Author tries to explain why Daddy is different

In the years following her husband's car accident, Ginille Forest had to learn what she calls "the language of traumatic brain injury."

Is tiger parenting effective?

Study finds children of intense, hands-on parents have lower academic achievement, more often maladjusted, alienated from kin

When Amy Chua's book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," came out in 2011, it sparked controversy among many people but especially psychologists and experts in child development. The book, they said, had lodged in the culture certain stereotypes about an Asian parenting style that was not well-studied or well-understood and certainly not ready to be held up as some kind of model.

Does your dog need therapy?

Professional trainers, animal behaviorists take on tricky issues

The two dogs faced each other from across the sidewalk, like cowboys in a spaghetti western shootout. One was Milky, a 5-year-old fluffy white Coton de Tulear mix adopted by my fiancé, Scott. The other was a comically fake stuffed dog on a leash handled by our trainer, Jamie Eaton of Spot On Training. It was the final evaluation in a series of tests to diagnose behavior problems in Milky and Milou, our other Coton de Tulear.

Energy Adviser: Electrical hazards hide around home

Odds are that sometime in your life, you've gotten an electrical shock or a thermal burn. If so, it probably occurred at home.

Garden Life: Perennials make welcome springtime return

I woke up to sunlight this morning. What a joy it is to feel the sun on your face as you step out into the garden. It's May and it's springtime and my garden is alive with activity. I could hear the bees humming as I began my garden walk this morning. They swarm the shrubby, floriferous Mediterranean heathers. They hang onto azalea blossoms and make the twiggy branches arch and sway under their weight. They rise up slowly and then buzz off to search for more May flowers.

Window boxes: Raised-bed gardens with a view

Sometimes the best view isn't what you see through a window but what catches your eye underneath it.

Ask the garden expert

I noticed the neighbor's tree is blooming with beautiful colored blossoms as it usually does, but for some reason it's growing a branch that is now green.