Outdoors

(Reprinted from July 16, 2008)

A friend volunteering at the Evergreen Nature Center last week asked me about an odd water mammal called a nutria. It seems that a volunteer on the boardwalk has pointed out a muskrat to a group of visitors, and this person came into the center and informed the volunteer on duty that “those animals out there are not muskrats; I grew up in Louisiana, and they are nutria. I have seen enough nutria that I know what they look like.”

(Reprinted from June 17, 2009)

Several readers have asked recently for an article on clematis vines, since one of them is on the noxious weed list and others are not. Many people seem to be having trouble telling them apart.

There have been five species in the genus clematis found on the eastern slope until recently, one white, one yellow and one blue.

They have now been renamed, and although the plants are still the same, they are now in four different genera and six species.

Evergreen has a new celebrity. Unfortunately, though, she has not been seen since making her debut, which was covered by Buzzfeed and news outlets across the country.

The little four-legged star made local news after she wandered into a Kittredge family's yard on June 15.

Memorial Day is cloudy and cool, with a bit of wind out of the north. People on the boardwalk along Main Street in Evergreen watch as a motorcycle tools by every few minutes. Sometimes the bike is accompanied by others; sometimes it’s alone; sometimes it’s playing music through a speaker; sometimes it’s moving to the tune of its own melodious engine.

This scene is a staple of summer weekends. And with summer fast approaching, more motorcyclists will frequent Jefferson County’s canyon roads to enjoy the mountain scenery.