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We Are the Intruders
And we’ve forgotten how to be gracious guests.
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Thermal Features in Yellowstone
The reason Yellowstone was made into the first national park on the planet is its unique thermal features. There were many times during my recent visit when I felt as if I were on another planet entirely. Nature there just doesn’t behave the way it does anyplace else I’ve ever been. It’s really quite fascinating.…
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The Wildlife of Yellowstone
According to the National Park Service webpage for Yellowstone, that park has the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states. After having just spent 5 days there, this fact does not surprise me at all. If you can manage to go through this glorious place and not see a half dozen creatures, you’re…
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Secret Revealed: Everyone in the US Owns Land!
Real Estate is without a doubt the best investment one can make. People fight wars over land. The song “This Land is Your Land” makes all of us proud. And it should. Just by virtue of being a US citizen, each and every one of us owns 84 million acres of land. Yup. That’s million…
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Scary Nature
Anyone who watches PBS even sporadically knows that the early Europeans who settled the Americas were downright terrified of the natural world. At first their settlements clung to shorelines and they kept the dense forests, full of unknown creatures and other, incomprehensible humans, to their backs, behind fortifications whenever possible. Swamps, deserts, and high mountain…
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My Jacksonville to Seattle Odyssey—Part 6
I left Billings, Montana in the pouring rain. But I had already had a bad opinion of it. The hotel was creepy, and the neighborhood was worse. For all I know Billings is a lovely place. I just didn’t get a chance to see it. I was so anxious to get out of there that…
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Wild Will Be Wild
I’m always amazed when someone interacts with a wild animal and is then surprised when they eventually get hurt. Oh, it might take years. Just ask Roy Horn, of Siegfried and Roy, or Steve Irwin, if he had survived the sting ray barb and was able to tell his tale. People don’t seem to grasp…
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Albino Skunks and Other Distractions
The other night I was driving home from work at midnight on a very remote stretch of road. I came around the curve and saw a car stopped in the oncoming lane. My first thought was, “Oh great, now what? How altruistic am I willing to be, a woman alone at midnight in the middle…