Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
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I know. The first question you ask is, "Why use a cover crop? I only have a small garden." When we talk about cover crops we are talking specifically about vegetable gardens. Whether you have a small garden, for example a 10 x 10 (or 100 square foot) plot, or a large garden a cover crop will benefit the soil. I've talked before about crop rotation and a small plot is certainly doable but a larger plot or multiple plots make rotation easier. At some point you have an area that is completely out...
For seven weeks we’ve explored multiple actions that dictators historically use to take over a country. We started with a discussion of dividing the population and setting different factions against each other to create hatred and unrest. The second week was governing by mandate (executive orders), bypassing the established legislative process. Week three covered using fear to control the population with COVID as the example. Week four revealed the actions by government to make people rely on government as the answer to all their problems a...
Every time I think I'm going to get ahead of the chores something comes up and I fall further and further behind. Always so much to do and so little time. I thought I was about to get ahead with the yard work and we got a lot of rain. I mean a lot. Since it was spotty around the county I don't know how much you got but it seemed almost like we got the entire year's worth in a few days. Not that I mind but it was so soggy that I couldn't get into the garden or the yard to work. Of course things...
Anyone who’s watching the news, especially over the past year, can see a failed criminal justice system. Remember all the riots across the country? Burning buildings, police precincts destroyed, stores ransacked and looted, people assaulted, and even being murdered. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED), a non-profit working in collaboration with a group of researchers at Princeton, 25 people were killed during the riots. Only one of the perpetrators was served by law enforcement. An article in the New York T...
Our granddaughter will be 20 months old this month and she loves to be outside with us. I know that she doesn't really have a clue what we are doing or any concept of why we are doing it but she does like to mimic our actions. When I'm watching her I've taken her to the shop while I've worked with the plants with some menial tasks. She's too young to just let go on her own so there isn't much I can do. But I do enjoy watching as she picks up trash and puts it in the trash can or plant prunings...
The last two years have been riddled with violence and destruction throughout the country. I’m not saying there wasn’t any in years prior but it seemed, at least to me, that it got a lot worse in 2019. Maybe it was the COVID hysteria, maybe a rebellious attitude, maybe it was an “insurrection”. I don’t know the social reasoning behind the violence but very specific groups took credit for most of it, at least the major events. What I do know is that they did their best to destroy our nation’s history and they’re still at it. In 2019, the foc...
Yesterday our Labrador was going nuts barking at something in the back yard. Linda went out to see what was going on and found a huge snake that slithered up the embankment behind the house. It was coiled up when she first came out and appeared not to care about the dog at all. She didn't identify what it was but the diameter she showed me seemed about two inches. We don't know if it was a rattlesnake or a bull snake. In any event it was one big snake. Just a few years ago a neighbor trapped a...
For those of you who have never traveled to a Communist or other type of tyrannical government-run country you will have no frame of reference for much of this article. I apologize for that on one hand yet on the other I’m glad you’ve never had the experience. Unfortunately, I have and I’ve had friends that have been detained while traveling in such countries. It was a terrifying time for them and for those of us who were behind waiting and praying for them. My first experience was while I was stationed in Greece in 1978. Two good frien...
I hope. I pray. Cross my fingers. Cross my toes. And whatever else I can cross. Warm weather, are you here to stay this time? I certainly hope so. Here it is almost May and we're still having some pretty severe cold snaps. With the temperatures running 20 to 30 degrees below normal it seems like winter will never end. Then I look at the calendar. May is next week and it's only two weeks until our Plant Sale at the Archer Event Center. That event is supposed to signal the upcoming arrival of the...
Reliance on government not self I’ve spent the morning watching comment after comment on the pitiful “jobs report” just released. Everyone had an opinion why it was so low but the general feeling was that people have no reason to work while receiving expanded unemployment benefits. We had the same phenomenon under Obama, too. I was an employer then and I remember how difficult it was to get employees when they were getting extended unemployment. That’s a sad commentary on our society. Unemployment payments aren’t near what a person would make w...
I love Spring. I love the smell in the air. I love the chill of the wind off the mountains. And, most of all, I love to watch new life coming up from the ground and the new buds on the trees and shrubs. I'm writing this the day before the big warm-up so the breeze is still pretty chilly. That's okay because I know what's right around the corner. Earlier I took my granddaughter out for a walk for the first time. We went from the house to the shop, to a walk in the windbreak, to the greenhouse...
”Government, which does not and did not grant us our rights, must not now seek to deny them by using fear as its justification.” Senator Malcom Wallop, Wyoming. Now that I’m retired I don’t drive to Cheyenne much anymore but last week I was in town nearly every day and I’m seeing a sight that is sickening me. Today I took the ladies out to lunch for Mother’s Day and it was reinforced. What I’m talking about is all the people still wearing masks as though they’re going to die if they take them off. Fear. But that isn’t the most sickening aspect...
When I decided on the subject for this week I never thought it would still be winter at the end of April. It sure feels like it though. It's cold and snowy. So why am I talking about grass? I mean native grasses, not the other kind. Because grasses affect all of us. It could be in a lawn, on the prairie, or even with allergies, but we all come into contact with grass at some point. Last year I wrote about lawn care and maybe I will again this year but right now my focus is more on the native...
Another question that came up often at the Cheyenne Home and Garden Show concerned raised beds and container gardening. The funny thing is that I was going to write on that topic anyway. Both of these gardening methods are invaluable in a garden. Raised beds take on many forms and can be decorative or strictly functional. They can be virtually any height and size. Those tending toward the functional side of the garden are most often customized to the gardener. For example, as we get older it...
“If his forces are united, separate them.” From the Art of War written by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist of about the 5th century B.C. The term we use today is “divide and conquer”. This is one of the first and foremost strategies used to take over a nation. For 243 years the United States has stood as a bastion of freedom and hope for the entire world. We took on what was at the time the most powerful nation and military in the world and defeated them to win our freedom from oppression. Then we fought another war with each other t...
I've spent the last three days at the Ask-a-Master Gardener booth at the Cheyenne Home and Garden Show answering questions and providing assistance to many new gardeners and a host of experienced gardeners from as far south as Denver, west to Vancouver, Washington and as far north as Montana. It was wonderful to see so many people interested in starting a new garden or expanding an existing garden. Beyond that I want to thank all of you that came out to visit and chat. I enjoyed meeting so many...
The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Pine Bluffs Post. Position 4: “Champion of civil liberties and protector of personal privacy.” On the surface this sounds great. Think about it, though. What does it really say? It’s far too ambiguous for me to even consider analyzing and explaining it to you. By being a “champion of civil liberties”, do they mean quotas for minorities? Or do they mean that they want to protect everyone’s rights and allow people to progress solely on their merits? I don’t kno...
Peppers come in a wide variety of flavors and range of heat. Although all peppers are in the nightshade family and contain capsaicin, they range from sweet (very low capsaicin) to extremely hot (high capsaicin). In fact, a solution made from habanero peppers is used to remove barnacles from ships. But let's put an old wives' tale to bed right up front. For years, the rumor has abounded that nightshades are poison and should be avoided. While that may be true for a few members of the nightshade...
The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Pine Bluffs Post. The Libertarian Party in Wyoming is considered a minor political party. In recent years they have often had the party dissolved due to too few members only to come back prior to the next election cycle. In 2020, Marshall Burt of Green River became the first Libertarian to hold a state elected office anywhere in the United States since 2002. He is also the first third party candidate to win a legislative race in Wyoming in over a century. The...
The last few days of "pre-Spring time" weather, in other words warm with little wind, set me to thinking about what I needed to do to be ready for planting. Yes, and yardwork, too. I'm trying not to think of the yard work but I'll be taking that on this year as well as the gardening. The first thing I had to do was to fix quite a bit of snow fence that our wild Wyoming winds pretty much tore down over the winter. While I was working on that I put together a list of things that I needed to do so...
The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Pine Bluffs Post. WATER RIGHTS Plank 17: “The Wyoming Republican Party believes in the state’s primacy over water, wildlife, minerals and natural resources; supports any actions which assures Wyoming’s primacy over its water; i.e. the doctrine of prior appropriations.” The Wyoming Republican Party believes that all resources within the borders of Wyoming belong to Wyoming, not to other states or the federal government. As such, Republicans will strive to promot...
The legislative session is winding down, finally. When the Legislators come back Tuesday from Easter break they will only have two days left. That means that by the time you get the paper, they’ll be gone for another year. HB0075 (Voter Identification) PASSED the Senate! I never believed it would but it has. This is a major step forward to enhancing the integrity of our election process. Unfortunately, HB0178 and HB0234 were not introduced and were, therefore, never considered. So this is year 4 that the legislature has failed to deal with t...
Ever since the "historic" snowstorm ended I've been watching the complaints pile up on FaceBook. Now I'm not a FaceBook user so Linda was reading them to me. I gave up on FaceBook when Zuckerberg decided it was his place to decide what kind of speech was permitted to be heard. So, I decided to no longer support his agenda. As Linda was reading the messages I just couldn't believe all the complaints about the weather and the amount of snow we got. I contrast those comments with my own thoughts....
The Laramie County Republican Party held their biennial county convention on Saturday to elect a new slate of officers for the years 2021-2022. Dani Olsen was reelected over challenger Freddie Flores by a margin of 128 – 2. Other new officers include Nathan Winters, Vice Chairman; Kylie Taylor, Vice Chairwoman; Angie Loetscher, Secretary (reelected); Ben Sherman, State Committeeman (reelected); and Lorraine Quarberg, State Committeewoman. The LCGOP holds a county convention every two years in a...
Oh, for the love of corn! Let me count the ways. Corn on the cob, roasted corn, whole corn, creamed corn, corn relish, corn soup, cornbread, popcorn, tortillas, corn pudding, johnny cakes, corn muffins, hominy, grits, and plenty more. Corn has been a staple in the Western hemisphere for, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, 10,000 years originating in the region where Mexico is today. Even corn smut (a product of a fungal disease) is considered a delicacy in some cultures. History tells us...
