Obesity & Food Labels

Today, the FDA announced new regulations regarding food and menu labeling, highlighting the caloric content of  a typical serving.  Unfortun...

Pot & Health in Colorado

Colorado has long been recognized for its relatively healthy population.  The State's sunny, mild climate, magnificent landscapes and su...

Achievements & Regrets

When we humans reach middle age, we begin to take stock of our lives.  That assessment tends to focus on our achievements and our regrets, p...

Waterfowl Invasion at Eagle Bluffs

As I approached Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area this morning, a large flock of snow geese moved northward through the Missouri River Valley. ...

Few Snows, One Magpie

Traveling back to Missouri yesterday, under clear, blue skies, I hoped to encounter large flocks of snow geese; after all, we are entering t...

The Risk of Avalanche

The number and severity of avalanches have been exceptionally high in Colorado this season, especially in the northern and central mountains...

Common Goldeneye Suitors

After two weeks of spring-like weather, the ice and snow has gradually decreased along the Front Range urban corridor.  In concert, winterin...

The Sap also Rises

As the late winter sun climbs in the southern sky, sap is rising in sugar maples and in some other deciduous tree species.  Tapped for maple...

Sports, Swimsuits & Sexism

It seems almost every news, sports and variety program this week has made reference to Sports Illustrated's annual Swimsuit Issue.  It i...

Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR

Once a chemical munitions depot and the site of a pesticide factory, Rocky Mountain Arsenal, in northeast Metro Denver was designated a Supe...

Hotspot Fields and Ridges

A volcanic hotspot is produced by a mantle plume, which pushes up into the crust, melting bedrock and, in most cases, erupting at the surfac...

Hysteria on the Farm

The recent mild weather and longer periods of daylight have triggered the hysterical calls of northern flickers on our Littleton, Colorado, ...

A Nod to Sam's Courage

Though we have lived and worked in Columbia, Missouri, for 16 years, I have always been a casual Tiger fan.  This week, however, I have beco...

Lovesick Mammals

It is fitting that Valentine's Day, the annual, commercialized celebration of romance, occurs in mid February.  After all, this is the t...

The Death of Capital Punishment

This week, the Governor of Washington announced that he will not enforce the State's death penalty law during his term, joining the Gove...

Blame it on the Jet

Throughout most of this winter, the jet stream has produced havoc across a large portion of the Northern Hemisphere.  While it generally ass...

Leaving the Arctic

Yesterday morning, we left Missouri for our Littleton, Colorado, farm; the temperature at dawn was 5 degrees F.  Heading west on Interstate ...

The Importance of Place

In this global economy, it is often necessary for individuals to move about as they climb the ladder of their chosen career.  In like manner...

The Greater Caucasus Mountains

Sochi, Russia, the site of the current Winter Olympic Games, sits along the east coast of the Black Sea; northeast and east of the city rise...

Hominin Footprints in England

As I half-watched, half-listened to the news last evening, my attention was drawn to a report that "human footprints" had been fou...

Beneath the Snow

As this brutal winter extends into February, a thick layer of snow covers the lawns, fields and grasslands of the American Midwest.  Shimmer...

CVS, Tobacco & Capitalism

As I was publishing my post yesterday, related to American tobacco exports, CVS, a major pharmacy chain, announced that they will stop selli...

Exporting Death

While we fret about the growing problem of heroin addiction in the U.S. and spend millions to disrupt its illegal importation and distributi...

The Wabash River

Rising in western Ohio, the Wabash River flows northwestward into Indiana, where it passes south of Ft. Wayne.  Ninety miles from its source...

Celebrity & Drug Addiction

Following the death of yet another celebrity from a drug overdose, we are once again left to wonder how such a talented and wealthy individu...

Snows over Vandalia

Returning from Cincinnati this afternoon, we encountered a large flock of snow geese circling above Vandalia, Illinois.  On their way to Arc...

First Month of Spring

Though it is generally included among the winter months of the Northern Hemisphere and often brings some of the heavier snows and more poten...