This Nanook » nature

New Photoset: At the Zoo

Matthew — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:39:57 +0000

Starting with a trip to Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, we’ve created a photoset to chronicle all future visits to zoos.

Beach blanket bumbo

Matthew — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:23:52 +0000

We took a short walk to the beach. Turns out to be pretty darn close (2.5 blocks) and not too shabby. Unfortunately, the water was getting pretty green, so that wasn’t the most pleasant. Nora didn’t seem to care.

Como Park with Grandma Cooke

Sarah — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:51:46 +0000

The Fall Girl

Sarah — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:56:37 +0000

As it turns out, Nora simply LOVES leaves. Like… a lot!

Bonzai!!!!!

Matthew — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:52:43 +0000

And more.

We went to the arboretum down at Como Park. Awesome.

Como Park Zoo

Matthew — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:55:51 +0000

We went there with Nora. Awesomely close proximity to the polar bears.

Swarm theory of Wilco

Matthew — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:07:58 +0000

As previously mentioned, I recieved Wilco’s latest album “Sky Blue Sky” as a Father’s Day gift. If you haven’t heard it yet, you must. It’s an excellent listen. It’s the kind of album that makes me want to get in the car and drive to nowhere in particular.

At any rate… we got our new Nat Geo yesterday and to my surprise, the cover art from “Sky Blue Sky” turns out to be a Nat Geo photo. NG has an article on page 126 called ‘Swarm Theory’ that discusses how ants, bees and birds live in complex numbers with simple organization. The second photo in the spread is a 2-pager illustrating a flock of starlings avoiding a peregrine falcon. I thought it was a pretty good album cover, but it turns out to be a fantastic photograph.

I wonder who sold it to whom? Did the photograph retain the rights to sell it to both Nat Geo and Wilco? It doesn’t really matter I suppose. It’s just a really neat image.

EARTHQUAKE!

Matthew — Tue, 08 May 2007 15:50:25 +0000

We just experienced a small quake here in Helena. Not quite as big as the one centered in Dillon a while back (5.7 magnitude), but it shook the house pretty evenly.

Bizarre.

UPDATE: 4.6 magnitude.

UPDATE: My AP reporter of a wife tells me that the official reading is now 4.6, not the initial report of 3.7.

A wonderful day for a walk outside

Matthew — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 16:58:16 +0000

And by “walk” I mean “sit.” It was such a wonderful day today, I thought I would see what Nora thought about grass. Too bad it’s dead brown grass. Still… it’s grass. And she loved it. Well… she was intrigued by it anyway. She just sat there brushing her hands against it with the occaisonaly warble of excitement. I can’t wait until it’s nice enough for her to crawl and run in the yard. Now, it’s still wet from melting snow.

To the Top!

Matthew — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 15:49:18 +0000

I’m going to hike to the peak of Mt. ~~Pike~~ Helena today with our friends Anne and Aaron. Let’s hope it doesn’t hit 90+ degrees while we’re up there. As with the rest of the nation, it’s been god-awful hot lately. Friend-Aaron is a weatherman, so maybe he can conjur up some cool weather from the top of the mountain. There must be at least a few sacred stones up there that he can use to cast a spell or something.

At any rate, this will be just my third time to the top of the mountain. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to hike it at least twice a month. I’m a little behind that count, eh. Oh well. The ultimate goal is to get from the bottom to the top without stopping for a breather. That’ll be nice.