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A Forester's Adventures in Chile, Part 4
Note: For the benefit of travelers and armchair adventurers who have been stuck at home for months on end, I am posting a series of diaries about my travels to the island of Tierra del Fuego, exactly...
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A Forester's Adventures in Chile, Part 5
Note: For the benefit of travelers and armchair adventurers who have been stuck at home for months on end, I am posting a series of diaries about my travels to the island of Tierra del Fuego, exactly...
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A Forester's Adventures in Chile, Part 6
Note: For the benefit of travelers and armchair adventurers who have been stuck at home for months on end, I am posting a series of diaries about my travels to the island of Tierra del Fuego, exactly...
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A Forester's Adventures in Chile, Part 7 - Torres del Paine National Park
Note: For the benefit of travelers and armchair adventurers who have been stuck at home for months on end, I am posting a series of diaries about my travels to the island of Tierra del Fuego, exactly...
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The Daily Bucket - Life and Death among the Wildflowers
This story takes place during the Recent Before Times. No, I’m not talking about 2019, the era before Covid-19. That’s ancient history now. Let’s refer to that era as the Archaic Before Times.To...
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Noble Fur's 2021 Travels
Noble Fur has not been featured in any diaries recently. It’s time to sort through the photos and share a few of them. 2021 saw us getting back on the road. For Noble Fur, this is her fifth...
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Noble Fur's 2021 Travels, Part 2
The first installment of this story saw us traveling from Georgia to far western Iowa. On the morning of June 7, we crossed into South Dakota, continuing our journey west and north. Trips along back...
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The Daily Bucket - Views of old growth forest they won't show on calendars
What adjectives come to mind when you think about an ancient forest? For many people, the list will include words like incredible, majestic, awesome, inspiring, cathedral-like, and timeless. There is...
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The Daily Bucket - Recent research and news articles related to forest...
This article is a companion piece to the diary that I posted on August 15, Views of old growth forest they won't show on calendars.Given that major forest fires have dominated the headlines for several...
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Noble Fur, A Memorial Diary
Every time a diary would be posted about a beloved pet passing away, I always had a sense of dread, knowing that the day would come when I would have to write fond words about Noble Fur. Sadly, the day...
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The Daily Bucket - Bull Sluice Rapid on the Chattooga River
This week I made a trip to South Carolina. It was mainly for business, but the project was close enough to my nephew’s house that I could stay there and visit. Traveling home on Thursday, I took a...
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The Daily Bucket - Notes from a budding scientist
As far back as I can remember, I was fascinated with numbers. On family trips (in the days before seat belts), I would stand on the floorboard behind the driver,watching the numbers on the odometer...
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Dealing with loss among the saboteurs (a story with Noble Fur connections)
Most of you are probably aware that I lost my kitty Noble Fur last December, in the most awful way. The short version is that she was killed by a dog as she was spending time outdoors, something she...
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Scandinavian Travel Diary, Part 1 - High Speed Train from Copenhagen to...
A week ago, I returned home from a two-week trip to Scandinavia. Setting aside the two travel days, I spent 3 days with friends in Denmark, 6 days traveling alone in Sweden and Norway, and closed out...
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Scandinavia Travel, Part 2 - North from Stockholm on the Night Train
Standing next to the tracks at the Stockholm rail station, waiting for the night train to transport me to the frozen Arctic, that’s something I could only dream about until recently. Many of you will...
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Scandinavia Travel Part 3 - Beyond the Arctic Circle by Train
The previous diary left all of you standing at the train station in Boden, Sweden, a tad south of the Arctic Circle. Today we will continue our northward trek across snowy fields and forests, past...
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Scandinavia Travel Part 4 - Walking Tour of Narvik, Norway
Are you tired from 3 diaries about riding on a train? Let’s take a day off, and settle into the town of Narvik, Norway.First, if you need to catch up on my travels, here are links to the stories of how...
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Scandinavia Travel Part 5 - Scenic Bus Trip from Narvik to Fauske, Norway...
I had to take a brief break from the travel series. Among other things, on Saturday I adopted a small kitten. Appropriately, I named him Narvik. Not only do kittens demand a lot of their human’s time,...
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Scandinavia Travel Part 6 - By Train from Fauske to Trondheim, Norway
I managed to let another week pass since the previous diary in the series. I’ll blame it on the kitten. He demands a lot of attention, and I can’t let him be in the same room as the laptop.When Part 5...
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Scandinavia Travel Part 7 - Walking Tour of Trondheim, Norway
Sunday, April 24, 2022Four of the past five days have seen long hours on trains and buses. Today, I have the entire morning free, before catching the afternoon train to Oslo.For readers who have missed...
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The Daily Bucket - The Gloomy Rocks, 10 Years of Photos!
In the Daily Buckets, we often talk about phenology, in which natural phenomena are observed over a period of time. Usually that involves plants, animals, and climate. To my knowledge, no Daily Bucket...
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The Daily Bucket - The Grandfather Pine Tree
Three years ago when I was working in Idaho, I encountered an ancient ponderosa pine tree at the edge of a rocky meadow. It bore the scars of a few centuries of existence. Fire, lightning, snow, wind,...
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The Daily Bucket - Big Spring in the Missouri Ozarks - Summer
My hometown in Missouri, Cape Girardeau, was nestled along the Mississippi River. The immediate area was characterized by low rolling hills, scenic in their own way but not spectacular. There were...
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The Daily Bucket - Big Spring in the Missouri Ozarks - Autumn
This is a companion diary to the one posted on November 17, The Daily Bucket - Big Spring in the Missouri Ozarks - Summer. In late October, I revisited the spring at a time when its beauty was accented...
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The Daily Bucket - Where the Ohio River meets the Mississippi
When I travel back and forth between Georgia and Missouri, I sometimes stop at Fort Defiance State Park at the very southern tip of Illinois, near the town of Cairo. This is where two great rivers —...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Road Trip from Washington to Utah
One of our regular diarists, minacat, will be spending the next few weeks recovering from surgery. I’ve been thinking about doing a series about the beloved Noble Fur, and this is a good...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Road Trip from Colorado to Illinois
This diary picks up where we left off last Friday. After four months of working in the Pacific Northwest, I was on the way home to Georgia, with Noble Fur as my co-pilot. Here’s the link to last week’s...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - A Walk at the Cabin
During her all-too-short time on this Earth, Noble Fur accompanied me on five cross-country journeys between my home in Georgia and my summer jobs in the Northwest. Each of these years, we made at...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Grand Teton National Park
During her all-too-short time on this Earth, Noble Fur accompanied me on five cross-country journeys between my home in Georgia and my summer jobs in the Northwest. In 2018 and 2021, the route home...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Making Tracks in Montana
Despite what the sign says, no trains were running that day.During her all-too-short time on this Earth, Noble Fur accompanied me on five cross-country journeys between my home in Georgia and my summer...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Kitties by the Fireplace
Cats tend to like sources of warmth, whether they be fireplaces, wood stoves, radiators, or sunbeams. Today’s diary will focus on Noble Fur’s connection with firewood, and will also include pics of my...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Autumn 2018 in Idaho and Montana
During her all-too-short time on this Earth, Noble Fur accompanied me on five cross-country journeys between my home in Georgia and my summer jobs in the Northwest. Today’s adventure covers part of the...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Carolina hikes
During her all-too-short time on this Earth, Noble Fur accompanied me on five cross-country journeys, plus numerous shorter trips. 2020 was the year when most of us stayed at home. I did travel twice...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Around the House
For this week’s diary, I will focus on previously unpublished pictures of Noble Fur at home. Most of the pics were taken in the yard; a few were on the porch or inside the house. Noble Fur was at ease...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Around the House, Continued
Noble Fur packed a lot of living into the six years that she was my companion. Since we traveled together and took walks together, I was able to take many hundreds of pictures, in a vast variety of...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Around the House, Part 3
Noble Fur packed a lot of living into the six years that she was my companion. Since we traveled together and took walks together, I was able to take many hundreds of pictures, in a vast variety of...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - On the road, five years ago
Once again, I’m up against publishing time, and still putting the diary together. This has been a busy week, but now it’s time to comb through the archives and pick out some pictures. Previous diaries...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - At the Fairgrounds
Noble Fur packed a lot of living into the six years that she was my companion. In the summer of 2019, I was planning to stay in a motel in the town of Wallowa in northeast Oregon. That’s where I’d...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Deep in the Missouri Ozarks, 2020
For most of us, 2020 was the Year We Stayed Home. Early that year, Covid came to our shores and everything shut down. I’m enough of a hermit that I got by just fine, just me and Noble Fur hanging out...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - More Ozark Adventures, And Some History
We pick up where we left off last week, on a trip to the Missouri Ozarks. In case you missed last Friday’s offering, here is the link.PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Deep in the Missouri Ozarks, 2020At the...
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PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Farewell For Now
Since the beginning of February, I have posted 15 diaries in the Noble Fur Friday series. Soon I will be on my way to the forests of Idaho for my summer work. Once I arrive, I will be focusing on my...
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The Daily Bucket - The Power of Positive Lightning
One of my recent comments featured pictures of a ponderosa pine that had been seemingly blown to bits.The remains of a ponderosa pine, next to Idaho Highway 55 near Donnelly.Several theories about the...
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The Daily Bucket - Oddities Observed in the Idaho Woods
Ever since leaving Georgia in June, I’ve been taking pictures with the idea of using them in diaries. But when I’m not in the woods, I’m usually feeling lazy. It’s way easier to read someone else’s...
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The Daily Bucket - Idaho Storm Clouds, Photo Diary
Whenever I’m working in the west, I enjoy taking pictures of stormy landscapes. I often have the advantage of wide open spaces, where power lines and billboards don’t interfere with the pictures. When...
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The Daily Bucket - Fall Colors in a Western Conifer Forest
My work area in western Idaho is dominated by green conifers: Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, grand fir, Engelmann spruce, and western larch. The latter species displays bright yellows and...
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The Daily Bucket - October in Glacier National Park (Bonus Cat Pictures)
In early October, I began the long trek from the site of my forestry project in New Meadows, Idaho, back to Georgia. By no means was my route direct. Along the way, I visited an old classmate who lives...
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The Daily Bucket - Spires
This is a quick diary that I will post when there’s no other Bucket in the queue. I’ve spent most of my life admiring green trees reaching for the sky. This diary is dedicated to other objects that do...
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The Daily Bucket: Friday Sequence, Dismantling a Dangerous Tree
It should come as no surprise that a forester would have a yard full of trees. The benefits of having trees, however, must be balanced aganist the risks they pose.A certain water oak tree (species...
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The Daily Bucket: Early Spring Day at Franklin D Roosevelt State Park, Georgia
The area around Pine Mountain and Warm Springs in western Georgia features some of the most rugged terrain outside the mountainous northern part of the state. A high ridge runs for about 15 miles from...
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The Daily Bucket: Eclipse 2024, Totality Over Missouri
As totality ended over Oregon in August of 2017, the 2024 eclipse seemed to be far into the future. Despite the seven year gap, I already had ideas about the encore eclipse. The path did not come near...
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