Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 30, 2013

What do you think about urban art like this?  The painting, which graces the side of a building in downtown Cheyenne, was controversial when it was first unveiled. 

Do you like it?  Why or why not? 

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 23, 2013

At first glance, you might think you'd stepped into the nineteenth century, but there are a number of clues that this is actually a museum in Encampment, Wyoming.  How many anachronisms did you spot?

I found three, but I suspect there are more.  My list is:

• The modern bench in front of the ice cream parlor.
• The electric street light.
• The box on the street light pole.

What did I miss?

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 16, 2013

Can anyone guess the name of this sculpture?  Hint #1: the coyote isn't planning to have a friendly chat with the rabbit.  Hint #2: the rabbit has no intention of being dinner.

Did you guess that the name is Fast Food? 

And, if you were wondering, this sculpture is found on a street corner in downtown Cheyenne.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 9, 2013

Why would anyone take this picture, and even if they did, why would they post it on a blog?  The reason is that the lovely green lawn isn't grass at all.  It's astro-turf.  Now you're probably wondering why that's noteworthy.

As I've mentioned several times in the past, Wyoming is an arid state, one that treasures each drop of water.  The picture was taken at one of Wyoming's roadside rest areas, and the Department of Transportation, better known as WYDOT, takes conservation seriously.  The rest areas use solar panels for heating, and this one decided that artificial turf made more sense than normal grass.  I agree!

Do you have any examples of conservation that you'd like to share with readers?

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 2, 2013

What is it?  No, it's not a baseball, although it's actually larger than one.  This is a mushroom.  Those of you who live in areas with normal rainfall might not think that's noteworthy, but Wyoming -- especially southeastern Wyoming where I live -- is a fairly arid region.  We rarely see mushrooms.  Now, thanks to the considerably heavier than normal rainfall that we had a few weeks ago, they've cropped up.

Yes, not just one, but a number of them decided that the prairie grass was a good place to grow.  I wonder if any of our local wildlife will eat them.