Day of Fear

Today, the rituals of Halloween will unfold, man's effort to express and illuminate the fears that pervade our lives. The greatest of th...

The Ural Mountains

Extending north to south through western Russia, the Ural Mountains formed from the collision of two proto-continents, some 250-300 million ...

First Freeze

For the first time this season, winter has poked a finger into central Missouri; this morning, the temperature hovered just below 32 degrees...

Control & Happiness

We humans, having the capacity to make plans and set goals, strive to be happy. While we are carefree as children, we come to realize that o...

Wind Storm

Produced by a ripple in the high energy jet stream, a potent storm has developed over the Northern Plains and, as of this morning, is center...

Fox in the Mulch

Since we bought our Littleton, Colorado, farm in 1990, a large pile of mulch has been accumulating and compacting in a back corner of the pr...

Crossing the Storm

As I left Denver this morning, a large storm system was centered over northeastern Colorado. A cool north breeze was flowing southward along...

Flowing Back in Time

West of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, the Colorado River passes through the Grand Hogback and enters the Colorado Plateau, a vast geophysical ...

Into the Wilderness

Needing a break from the farm work and granted another sunny, mild day, I opted for a hike in the mountains and headed for the Deer Creek Tr...

Colorado Junipers

Favoring sunshine and semi-arid soil, junipers are found throughout Colorado, from High Plains escarpments to the canyon walls of the Colora...

The Nature of Homophobia

As the political season heats up, gay rights have once again become fodder for conservative talk show hosts, politicians and religious leade...

Pheasant of the Plains

This was a beautiful day for traveling across the Great Plains of North America. Under partly cloudy skies and a mild air mass, the grasslan...

A Motley Crowd

Those of us who regularly observe birds at the backyard feeder come to appreciate the varied personalities of our avian visitors. House spar...

Sphinx Moths

Returning home yesterday afternoon, I found a large, attractive moth on the wall of our front porch. It was a white-lined sphinx moth, a me...

Man & Mountains

Having evolved in the shadow of Kilimanjaro, man has long been enchanted with mountains. We, and perhaps our immediate hominid predecessors,...

The Miners & Humanity

Scenes of joy were beamed across the globe over the past two days as 33 Chilean miners were rescued from their ten week ordeal, entombed wit...

Jack-o-Lantern Mushrooms

Mushrooms, the spore-producing fruit of fungi, generally prefer cool, moist conditions and are thus rarely encountered during the heat of su...

Isolated Peaks & Monoliths

There are few natural landscapes more inspiring than a lone peak or isolated cluster of mountains that tower above the surrounding terrain. ...

Birding without Binos

Binoculars are an essential tool for beginning birdwatchers, who learn to distinguish the individual species by close attention to their plu...

The Chuska Mountains

Forming a topographic wall across northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, the Chuska Mountains are the remnants of an elongated, s...

Summer Billows Back

After getting shoved to the Gulf Coast by a series of cold fronts, summer has returned in the form of a broad atmospheric ridge that covers ...

Back in the Dark

Two weeks after the autumn equinox, I am shrouded in darkness on my walks to work. From now until early March, there will be no sunlight to ...

Chickadee Gifts

Hang a new feeder in the backyard or fill an old one for the first time in the fall and, in almost every case, chickadees will be the first ...

A Chilling Silence

For months now, I have walked to work amidst a chorus of insects. But, on the past few mornings, their chirps and buzzy calls have been stif...

Waxwing Invasion

Taking a break between football games yesterday afternoon, I went out back to enjoy the cool, sunny weather. There I was greeted by hundreds...

October in Words

How do you describe the glorious month of October? One would certainly need to use words like mild, sunny, crisp, colorful and invigorating...

East Coast Deluge

In North America, storm systems generally move from west to east. Since showers and thunderstorms are produced along the trailing cold fron...