Lisa Heyamoto: An alchemist lurks in our midst

To picture an alchemist is likely to conjure visions of a disheveled scientist in a circa-16th century European dungeon, greedily trying to coax gold from base metal.

But Dennis William Hauck is a 63-year-old guy in south Sac who just finds the science fascinating.

Hauck, one of just a few hundred modern day alchemists, got hooked on the practice while studying mathematics at the University of Vienna in the early '70s. One day he got lost in the library and found himself in the basement surrounded by alchemy books, their intricate pictures enough to turn his head from math forever.

He started traveling and learning the trade, and it wasn't long before he knew that this was something worth devoting a life to.

"There's a lot of misinformation," he said. "There are a lot of people who think you're some kind of sorcerer."

The most fabled practitioners concerned themselves with making gold or producing the cure-all "elixir of life." But for most, alchemy is more of a spiritual philosophy, the transformation of one thing into another being a metaphor as much as a physical change.

Experiments involve destroying the subject, extracting its essence and re-forging it as something stronger, more whole. It's the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes. That, and what we recognize as modern-day psychotherapy.

Hauck has managed to make a full-time career out of the alchemical process, teaching students, selling the fruits of his experiments and writing books, the most recent being "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy."

It's a 101 approach to the subject that he hopes will inspire what's looking to be a healthy wave of future scientists, alchemy being, of course, the new black.

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The California housing crisis has proved that one man's tragedy can be another man's gain. But it seems man's best friend is also getting into the game.

Claudia Romero was visiting her mother in Oak Park when she noticed two dogs living in the bushes of a foreclosed home. They were clearly hungry and homeless, and she knew she had to help.

"My husband says I have an eye for seeing animals in need," she said. "I can't turn away."

It turns out they had been squatting there for months. The younger dog was easily lured by cat food, but the older, wiser one proved wilier. It took several tries, a whole roasted chicken and a friend's dog trap to get it done.

Like most people who carry pet food in their car "just in case," Romero, 38, has found that a big heart has already resulted in too many rescued pets to take in another, so she is trying to find them a home.

"I can't change the world," she said. "But if I can help one at a time, then I'm gonna try."

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For a minute there, Jennifer Stroup was something of a celebrity at Sutter Roseville Memorial Hospital.

Stroup had given birth to twins, one named Sadie and the other, Sutter. And though she hated to disappoint, she had to admit that she hadn't, in fact, named him after the hospital.

She and her husband found the name in a baby book after struggling to agree on the S-name to match Sadie and their other daughter, Samantha.

And though she couldn't provide the anecdote of the year, she didn't write off the connection entirely.

"It makes it more special because we had such a great experience," the Rocklin mom said. "Sutter is a wonderful hospital."

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Lisa Heyamoto, (916) 321-1261.