July 3, 2012. Wyoming Veterans Memorial Park, Cody, Wyo.

No, young house sparrows do not look like their parents

The parking lot behind my office is a really popular place for house sparrows to raise their young -- despite the hazards of plenty of heavy vehicles moving about. We found this young sparrow right by the back door.

The fledgling's father was a committed parent.

Photos taken in June 2012.

Kick off your heels

And stay awhile.

From my best friend's wedding in June 2012.

Clark's Jubilee Days

Some shots from the Clark Jubilee Rodeo in June 2012.

There was also a good old fashioned melon-eating contest. I think everyone won.

No flagging spirits

How can you display your patriotism between Memorial Day and Independence Day? Why, with a Flag Day celebration and a Field of Honor, of course.

...and then we saw 50 billion caterpillars!

Here are some photos from a June trip to Yellowstone National Park.

It was awfully good of this coyote to trot parallel to the road.

Did you know ground squirrels can stuff their faces using only one hand?

They're equally adept with the two-handed method.

If the park's thermal features were covered with these creepy-crawlies, I'll bet the Park Service wouldn't need to warn folks about not sticking in their hands.

This is photo is completely unremarkable or worthy of posting... EXCEPT THAT IT HAS THREE GRIZZLY BEARS IN IT. Of course, you can't really tell they're grizzly bears, but I'm sure the folks with the long fancy lenses got some great stuff in the afternoon's beautiful glow.

What's so offensive about Coca-Cola?

What a difference a perspective makes.

Coca-Cola recently unveiled an ad it plans to air during Sunday's Super Bowl. It features stereotypical-looking cowboys, showgirls and "badlanders" racing through the desert for, you guessed it, Coke. Though it's not in any way mentioned in the TV spot, the cowboys' fictional biography on the Coke Chase website describes them as hailing from my county seat of Cody, Wyo.


Here in Park County, I think the general sentiment is that it's pretty cool Cody got an indirect plug in connection with an ad that will be viewed by somewhere north of 111 million people. Cool despite the fact that the Hollywood cowboys are nothing like the ranchers and wranglers you'll find around these parts.

Meanwhile, groups from other parts of the country are coming up with creative ways to get offended.

Here's an incredible quote from a USA Today story reporting on Arab-American group outrage about a man depicted as a stereotypical sheik in the ad:

"The problem with the ad is that it relies on stereotypical characters to tell their story,'' says Chris Lehtonen, president of Asterix Group, a San Francisco-based LGBT and multicultural marketing firm. "While it may not be blatantly racist, the fact that it pits these groups against each other in the ad is insensitive. It is trying to sell their product at the expense of these groups. There are much better ways to tell the story."

It's such a ridiculous argument, I have to wonder if Mr. Lehtonen is feigning outrage just to get his marketing firm's name in USA Today. I mean, isn't he just a small step away from arguing for an end to the Super Bowl? Because when you think about it, pitting groups of men representing different geographic locales against each other is pretty insensitive. And isn't this whole Baltimore versus San Francisco thing just a way to sell products at the expense of the men on the teams?*

There's undoubtedly plenty more opportunities to get offended here (for example, is it really that responsible for Coca-Cola to be promoting the hashtag #CokeCowboys?), but I'd humbly suggest we all just pipe down and enjoy getting products sold to us.

*Actually, that would have been a better argument.