Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 25, 2017

Doesn't this look like a fun place for a child to explore? It's part of the Laramie County Library in Cheyenne and is one of the reasons the library was voted one of the best in the country.

The whole second floor is devoted to children and young adults and has become a popular place for everything from story time to chess games, proving that libraries are gathering places as well as repositories for books.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 18, 2017

Last week I showed you the entrance to the Old West Museum.  What I didn't tell you is that its exhibits include one of the country's largest collections of historic carriages and wagons, including this stagecoach. 

I know from my research that traveling by stagecoach wasn't particularly comfortable, but I'd still like to travel a few miles that way to see just how much passengers were jolted and bounced.

What do you think?  Should we do it?

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 11, 2017

Where would you expect to see benches made from wagon wheels and a fountain with a cowboy pouring water from his boot?  If your answer included something about the old west, you were right.  You'll find this scene outside the Old West Museum in Cheyenne.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- October 4, 2017

Perhaps this week's post ought to be titled "The Sunflower Saga," because everything in it revolves around one of the wild sunflower plants in my backyard. While the plants themselves aren't especially beautiful, the flowers are cheerful and -- best of all -- they attract beautiful birds.

Here's an American Goldfinch, his beak open as he reaches for a seed.

If you look carefully, you can see the seed in his beak.

One seed isn't anywhere close to enough, so he goes back for another and another and another.

I'm always amazed by how persistent the birds are. They'll stay on a single plant for up to an hour, devouring the seeds. It's particularly fun to watch them when they turn upside down to pluck a seed from the flower.

Here's what the plant looks like when they're finally finished. Not much left for the next bird.

I won't tell you how many hours I've spent watching goldfinches and other birds feasting, but each time I see them, I'm grateful for the volunteer sunflower that decided to grow so close to my house.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- September 27, 2017

Looking for a bad hair day? The new Grand Conservatory at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens can help you.

All joking aside, one of the unusual and fun features of the new conservatory is the fogging system which helps hydrate the plants. The amount of fog is carefully controlled and can be modified to meet changing indoor conditions. And, if it isn't the best thing for naturally curly hair, it does have a positive effect on skin.

So, come on inside and enjoy the fog.  (If you look carefully, you can see me to the left of the Gardens' Assistant Director, Tina Worthman.)

Wednesday in Wyoming -- September 20, 2017

What's so special about this wall in one of the classrooms of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens' new Grand Conservatory? It has a history.

When the conservatory was being built, it was necessary to cut down a number of old Ponderosa pine trees. You might be surprised to learn that this generated some controversy. Why? It all started back 150 years when the city was first founded on land that had not one native tree. Getting trees to grow here is a real challenge, so cutting down healthy trees is something few take lightly, even now.

Unwilling to let the trees go to waste, Gardens' director Shane Smith, who's a great proponent of recycling and reuse, arranged to have them milled into wood. During that process, the miller discovered that the trees had been infected with pine bark beetles and would have had to be cut down, even if the conservatory hadn't been being built. So, what was first thought to be a problem turned out to be a good thing -- the beetle-infested trees were gone, and the conservatory had some unique walls, not to mention a story to tell.

Wednesday in Wyoming -- September 13, 2017

It's not only the inside of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens' Grand Conservatory that's green. So too is the roof.