Dogs become friends and cats purr perfectly, but can either lay eggs with golden yolks that stand upright at attention? No, and maybe that’s why more and more homeowners are choosing chickens as pets. “Enthusiasts have been pecking away at multiple local laws,” reports USA Today, persuading officials in Fort Collins, Colo., Portland, Ore., Seattle, […]
Heard Around the West
Posted inHeard Around the West
Ode on a glue factory?
A giant statue of a rearing blue horse has welcomed drivers to Denver International Airport for about a year, and nobody made much of it — until now. Rachel Hultin, a Denver real estate broker, thought the sculpture a dud and started a Facebook page, byebyebluemustang.com, to vent her criticism. She also asked for comments […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
The death of No. 6
A bull elk famous for his magnificent set of antlers — and his nasty temper — died recently in Yellowstone National Park after a freak accident. The animal (known as No. 6 because of his ear tag) apparently tripped crossing a fence and somersaulted onto his back, reports the AP. “Pinned between large rocks with […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
The burning billboard
Grand Junction in western Colorado has long had a problem separating state from Christian church. County commissioners keep trying to pray before public meetings, and public officials approve of nativity displays on public property. Now, a Wisconsin-based organization, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, is striking back with an in-your-face message for drivers. The Associated Press […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Cactus carnage
YouTube.com recently fired up people who love the Southwest’s iconic saguaro cactus. All it took was a startling video of a tractor chowing down on a 15-foot-tall plant in the desert near Phoenix, reports the Arizona Republic. Within seconds after the tractor’s mower grabs the cactus at the top, it smashes it down until nothing […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
7-Eleven: the Final Frontier
Who was that masked man? Wearing a black mask, a black jacket and jeans, a man wielding what appeared to be a Klingon sword held up two convenience stores in Colorado Springs recently. According to a surveillance camera, the first 7-Eleven clerk handed over some money at 1:50 a.m. A half-hour later, the clerk at […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Bullets, bomb threats, cowgirls and the blues
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which may soon be mourned as a shuttered daily, attracted top-drawer talent in the mid-’70s, writes Jean Godden in Crosscut.com. Novelist Tom Robbins was on staff, as was legendary science-fiction writer Frank Herbert, creator of the Dune series. During that tumultuous decade, bomb threats became routine and there were regular anti-war demonstrations […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Aquatic invasive: $29.95
It’s no hassle to get on the Internet and buy a kit containing adorable tadpoles from the Florida-based Grow-a-Frog company. But this is something the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks hopes you’ll never, ever do. The company may say that the animals merely morph into baby froglets that only hop around in the […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
“But enough about you…”
Former Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said goodbye to his employees with a slide show, reports Washingtonpost.com. He showed about 600 slides, “each picturing the distinguished secretary, many of them taken at a national park.” One staffer who sat through the presentation commented, “It was special. That’s all I should say.”
Posted inHeard Around the West
The dangerous, dusty trail
Lest it be outdone in the attacking-animal category, Boulder, Colo., can report that a “bitter bovine” attacked a Boulder biker. NewWest.net said a cow “charged a woman” on a trail and knocked her down. Fortunately, she wasn’t injured. “The cow had left the scene by the time rangers arrived, but hikers coming down the trail […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Those cantankerous locals
Visitors to a museum don’t usually expect to be attacked by wild animals, but then, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum close to Tucson is a very different kind of institution — outdoors, interactive and endlessly fascinating. Unfortunately, reports the Arizona Republic, a pig-like, tusked javelina that “did not belong to the museum” took a dislike to […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Behold, a pale horse…
There may be nothing new, perhaps, about a drunk guy on horseback in Wyoming, but Benjamin Daniels, 28, created a traffic hazard at 4 p.m. in Cody just by “riding a white horse during a snowstorm.” Slow-moving horse and snowflakes were blending in, reports the Associated Press, and motorists told police they feared there would […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Anyone want some wolves?
Not to be outdone in the oddball department, Idaho State Sen. Gary Schroeder, R, has introduced a bill requiring his state to gather up its wolves and give them away, preferably to another state, reports the IdahoStatesman.com, though so far none has stepped up to tell Idaho that it’s wolf-short. The bill unanimously passed the […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Boozing with big brother
Not infrequently, state legislators who think of themselves as conservative come up with extraordinarily intrusive laws. In Utah, Senate President Michael Waddoups, R, has a proposal that would treat social drinkers as potential criminals. Distressed because he thinks restaurants are becoming too much like bars, Waddoups has urged managers to keep all offending booze out […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Parking is primo in Vail
Ah, Vail, where big money still gets spent on a crucial item like a parking space. The Vail Daily says a treasured spot within Vail’s heated indoor Founders Garage is now on offer for $500,000. “Parking is going up in Vail,” said Buzz Schleper, the spot’s owner. “There’s always somebody out there who has money […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
A blaze of bullets
Twice a year or so, says a fire chief in Medford, Ore., a blaze breaks out in somebody’s house and bullets start banging as well. “Actually, it’s not uncommon for us to deal with ammunition during fires,” says Medford Battalion Chief Ken Goodson. A recent Jacksonville fire was a doozy, though, because James Frings sold […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Dinosaur dance steps — maybe
Did a bunch of dinosaurs really hang out together 190 million years ago, leaving their many footprints behind? When a University of Utah geologist announced that a “dinosaur dance floor” had been found within what’s known as the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona, it made big news. But four Western scientists — including […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Leave those cactus alone
“Cactus cop” Jim McGinnis, an investigator for Arizona’s Department of Agriculture, is tired of thieves ripping saguaro cacti out of the desert. “Everybody wants a saguaro in their front yard,” he complains, and unfortunately, thieves around Tucson are happy to oblige by stealing some of the magnificent plants from public lands. The pilferers target the […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Don’t call it journalism
The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle in Cheyenne featured the headline “Which is scarier?” on its front page a few days before the presidential election, followed by a subhead that echoed some of the nastier campaign literature making the rounds of the region: It asked readers to choose between “a black president or a bleak economy.”
Posted inHeard Around the West
Drink for a good cause
As Capital Press put it: “Winemaker Budge Brown is on a mission — to find a cure for breast cancer — and he’s doing it one bottle at a time.” After his wife, Arlene, died of breast cancer three years ago, Brown, who grows grapes in California’s Pope Valley, decided to buy a wine label […]