Sometimes the best activities are in our own backyards, or close anyway. At a friend’s encouragement our whole family rented skis and took a short drive up Casper Mountain to the Nordic Ski Center. The lodge itself manages to capture the classic mountain ski lodge look and feel without being pretentious, but the real draw…
Tag: lifestyle
We’ve Cheated Old Man Winter
Well, that’s the way I feel when I am walking on November 28th and there are bugs flying in the air around me and the native plants in my garden have turned green and resprouted. What a great feeling to have a day in the mid 50’s and no wind. It really is the best…
Groundwater Test Results in Pavillion, Wyoming
The EPA has released initial findings from ground water testing in the Pavillion, WY area. Pavillion residents have complained of contaminated drinking water wells for many years, suspecting fracture drilling, or fracking, is causing contamination. The EPA results can be found here. Their interpretation of these results should be forth coming in the next few…
First Snow
Yesterday we awoke to the first dusting of snow on Casper Mountain. It’s right on time. We usually see our first higher elevation snow by October 15. It heralds the coming of winter, but it won’t be a slow, steady, predictable arrival. In Wyoming the changing of seasons usually happens in fits and starts. I…
Wyoming Fall Colors Include Rhus
The fall colors of Wyoming are subtle, not like the brilliantly brushed hardwood forests of the eastern US. The shades of autumn in the Rockies are more muted with the dark olive evergreens, purple-grey slates, and reddish sandstones providing the back drop for pockets of glowing aspen and roadside ribbons of burning rabbitbrush. The fall…
Busy as a Bee
Late summer brought on that old familiar feeling. Bittersweet. Summer is almost over, and fall is on its way. Autumn may very well be the most beautiful season in Wyoming. The wind quiets down. The nights cool. The skies are brilliantly, painfully, blue. Every sunny day (which is most of our autumn) is one more…
National Public Lands Day
This Saturday, Sept 24, is National Public Lands Day. You can find volunteer activities to support the management of public lands here. Wyoming is about 48% public land, meaning over 46 million acres of Wyoming is ‘owned’ by the citizens of the US and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service,…
Glass Eyed Pony
Glass eye Wall eye China eye Clydesdale eye Cotton eye “When horsemen speak of a glass-eyed horse, they refer to an eye that is any color other than normal [brown], but the eye is usually some shade of blue. A ‘china eye’ is blue, a ‘wall eye’ is part blue and part white, and a…
Sometimes It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better
It’s true of: 1. Training young horses 2. Training young stock dogs 3. Cleaning the house
Wyoming State Fair
We took the short drive to Douglas, Wyoming to catch the Friday night rodeo at the Wyoming State Fair. The state fair has a small town atmosphere where you feel the permission to slow down, view the displays (AMAZING display of hand made quilts), sample some ‘fair food’ and watch the rodeo. Our night at…
Water Quality in the Arid West
Rural Property in the Arid West: Water Quality Rural property owners in the arid west often face water quality issues. The rock strata holding our ground water often results in saline and alkaline water. If you are a rural property owner with a private well, you should regularly test your water. If you are considering…
Wolves in Wyoming
It’s certainly a tinderbox topic. Raise the subject of wolves in Wyoming around any dinner table and you’ll hear very passionate opinions. I have to say, I’m not up to speed on the controversy. As a student at the University of Wyoming, I attended some of the early discussions and meetings regarding the reintroduction and…
Wyoming Life 