As of today, July 5, according to the Fire Incident Information System website, there are four major, active fires in Wyoming. Here in Casper, we were greeted this morning with a nice little rain. Apparently the firefighters down in Fox Park and Sheep Mountain west of Laramie also experienced some light rain and cooler temperatures…
Author: wyominglife
Colorado Wildfire Smoke Finds Us
Today was the first day of breathing smoke from the Colorado fires. My guess -the source is the High Park fire about 220 miles from here (Casper, Wyoming), now estimated at over 87,000 acres. The smoke gives the sky an eerie yellow cast. I remember 1988, my first year in Wyoming, standing on a high-ish…
Wyoming. Land of Extremes
Last year the Wyoming headlines read: “North Platte River reaches record high at Saratoga” “Platte River floods still threaten; half of record snow pack has yet to melt” “North Platte River Flooding 2011” “Planning, weather help Casper avoid flooding” “River keeps rising” “Casper preparing for high water levels” And this year, in the recent headlines…
Horton Hears a Who
I count three kinds of insects doing their job in this Mariposa Lily, or Calochortus nuttallii. A small, beautiful world. Click on a photo to see it at higher resolution.
Ready for Take Off
These seeds are ready for take off. As kids we all enjoyed the Dandelions in the yard. How magical it was to blow on the seed heads and watch the little parachutes take flight. As an adult I am amazed at the perfection of design of this family of flowers commonly called Composites, of the…
Penstemons I Have Known
In my last post I documented a few Penstemons I have successfully grown in my home landscape. As I hike the local area I have come across some other Penstemon species native to Central Wyoming and the Bighorn Mountains. I’d like to share a few photos. The Penstemon genus is quite varied, but the tubular…
Penstemons I Have Grown
The world of Wyoming Penstemons is a whirlwind of pinks, purples, and blues. They intrigue me because they grow and blossom in some of the most inhospitable soils Wyoming can dish out; sand, rock, clay, windswept hillsides, fully exposed southern faces. Their ability to beautify the extremely inhospitable is always a wonderful surprise, and they…
I’ve Been Nominated for the Reader Appreciation Award
I have been nominated for the Reader Appreciation Award by danLrene at Work The Dream. I hope you will visit her blog and send her a note. You can check out danLrene’s other recommendations for enjoyable, inspiring, and humorous blogs. The great thing about blogs is that we get a glimpse into the lives of…
Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium
Chamerion angustifolium, commonly called Fireweed, since it is an early colonizer after wildfires, is found across North America in all but the southeastern U.S. Its native range includes a wide range of average annual precipitation, so it should do well in the moderately watered home garden or landscape. Fireweed flowers are a brilliant magenta to…
April Showers in Wyoming
At 5000 plus feet, April showers often come in heavy white crystalline form. This may be our last snow of the season, so I took a quick dash out to get a shot of the mountain as the clouds were lifting. Spring snows are very important to the ecology of Wyoming. The snows of Feb-April…
Native Flowering Shrub for Western Landscapes
Fellow western blogger Big Sky Ken, made a stop at Ayers Natural Bridge and posted his photos. The post reminded me of my stop there in July when the Holodiscus dumosus was in full bloom. Ocean Spray is a native Wyoming shrub that deserves much more attention and development for the landscaping market. It is…
Troubadour of Spring
It’s usually around the 15th of March that I hear my first Western Meadowlark of the year. The bright yellow male bird is often seen sitting on a fence post singing his song of spring. It’s a lovely sound, described as watery, warbly, flute-like. Some say the Meadowlark is crying, “Please pass the salt and…
Wyoming Life 