Nathan Bolls

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Written By Nathan Bolls on March 7, 2024
Cottonwood tree

Have you ever had a favorite tree? I suspect that most people don’t give much thought to this idea. After all, trees just sort of stand there, but most of us do look forward to fall leaf colors. There are those limbs that break off in the wind and clutter our surroundings, and there’s always the fall season leaf drop. That’s when leaves from all over our block seem to be blown onto our lawn--and become our responsibility. Thank you, lawn crews!

Written By Nathan Bolls on February 1, 2024

We can hear them vocalizing (some would say yelping) many evenings on the Meadowlark campus.  We sometimes see their tracks here-or-there in mud or soft soil, or a tuft of either fur or feathers that makes us wonder if it’s a leftover from some coyote meal. We sometimes see them out in a field or pasture or racing across the highway in front of us. They work very hard at keeping their distance from humans. In spite of the mystique surrounding them, and the fact that they occur everywhere, coyotes (Canis latrans) present no direct danger to us. 

Written By Nathan Bolls on January 4, 2024

Here we are in the post-Holiday Season doldrums. And what to do with ourselves? There’s always football, but that doesn’t do much for the souls of humans. We could take a fishing or beaching walking vacation somewhere in the Caribbean. We could offer to care for grandchildren to give their parents a chance to rest up after the holidays. After all, changing batteries in toys is hard work. 

Written By Nathan Bolls on December 7, 2023
Outdoor Encounters: Moral Beauty

I recently ran across the term “moral beauty.” As is often the case with such terms, this expression refers to a battery of actions most likely practiced by people ever since one human first looked into the face of another—even without a formal name for those actions. 

Written By Nathan Bolls on September 7, 2023
Crows, in some way, talk to other crows about what has happened to them.

Sitting at my desk on my new and neat glassed-in porch, I’ve watched numerous bird species—robins, cardinals, wrens, bluebirds, orioles, brown thrashers, house finches, chickadees, doves, American goldfinches, blue jays, hummers, northern flickers, and crows flying, and turkey vultures soaring overhead, all going about their business of surviving this day.  

Written By Nathan Bolls on August 3, 2023
Rachel Carson, scientist & author

A recent article in Nature’s Voice, the newsletter of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), reminded me of the scientist and author, Rachel Carson, and her courageous landmark 1962 book entitled Silent Spring.

Written By Nathan Bolls on July 6, 2023
Our beautiful shining blue Earth, seen from space.

The sun shines, distant stars twinkle, and the moon glows. And the first astronauts, looking back at their home as they orbited our moon, were hushed as they stared at the celestial body from which they had so recently been pushed. Our beautiful shining blue Earth, seen from space, and although held in orbit by the mysterious power of gravity, seemed alone and lost in the dark void. The bright sphere displayed both a great beauty and a profound sense of fragility. The astronauts were dumb-struck and astonished by this shining orb wrapped in a sheath of blue oceans.

Written By Nathan Bolls on June 1, 2023
June 2023 Outdoor Encounters

I often hear someone say “What can I do?” when the topic swings around to the climate crisis we are facing. Some who utter these words are deadly serious in their intent. Others, not yet fully onboard to battle what we are facing, probably will fall back to the rationalization often used come election time: “What good will one little vote do?” and “Why bother?” We must remember that each of the tens of millions of votes counted in the last election began with a single lone effort—and democracy was better for it.   

Written By Nathan Bolls on May 4, 2023

For the past four months, this column has considered a problem of serious international scope: climate change. But other undesirable changes are afoot, e.g., the problem of unnatural, invasive, “exotic” species.  This problem, though not as immediately dangerous to human welfare as is climate change, always is with us. In one sense, the problem is worldwide because the ancestral home of an invasive species into, say, eastern Kansas may come from about anywhere in the world. The extent of invasiveness depends upon the capability of the new species to survive in its new home.

Written By Nathan Bolls on December 1, 2022

The gift season is upon us. And what to do with it? I’ve heard counselors argue that we should exercise our hands and arms more and our checkbooks and credit cards less. Hugs and other expressions of love and affection are rather inexpensive and so meaningful if the recipient pauses to think about the event. But recipients can learn. And items handmade and useful never go out of style. Who doesn’t like a something snuggly or a favorite homemade pastry?