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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Cartoon: Sunday, December 29, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: Sunday, December 29, 2024

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Public Lands

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming’s winds are so strong, they actually move Devils Tower."}]

The nation’s first national monument has been swaying back and forth for millions of years — and it’s moving right now.

 published by the Geological Society of America has revealed that Wyoming’s iconic Devils Tower is constantly moving. 

An international team of geologists studied the massive monolith and determined that it's perpetually and ever-so-slightly swaying, twisting, and turning in the wind.

“It’s not only a static rock structure, millions of years in the making,” said Jeffrey Moore, a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah and lead author of the new study. “It is moving on human timescales. It's constantly in motion.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Solid As A Rock"}]

Devils Tower is a giant, eroded plug of volcanic rock. It was an intrusive body of magma that cooled under the surface and was gradually exposed by millions of years of erosion.

When most people see Devils Tower, they assume it’s as solid as a rock. Moore’s research shows that it isn’t entirely true.

“It’s lively with vibrational energy,” Moore said. “You can't see it, feel it, hear it, or anything, but it's nonetheless very real. It’s happened right this very second.”

Moore and his colleagues studied Devils Tower using ambient vibration modal analysis techniques. 

It’s a way of analyzing the ambient vibrations moving through solid rock forms, identifying the mode of those vibrations, and determining the extent and nature of movement they cause.

“It’s similar to playing a note on a piano,” Moore said. “If you looked at the sound wave of that, it wouldn't look like much, but if you looked at the frequency, it would tell you quite a lot about the frequencies of what you’re hearing. That’s what we did at Devils Tower.”

To conduct the study, the team placed two sensors at the base of Devils Tower and a seismometer at its 867-foot summit.

Kathryn Vollinger, another author of the study, was tasked with climbing Devils Tower twice in two days to set up and remove the seismometer at the top.

“She hauled it up, set it there, left it overnight, and climbed up the next morning to take it down,” Moore said. “All done with a permit from the National Park Service, of course.”

The data collected by the sensors revealed a lot about the movement of Devils Tower. It’s not just a once-in-a-while phenomenon, but an everyday occurrence.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s constantly in motion,” Moore said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Twist And Turn, Back And Forth"}]

Different movements have different frequencies. By analyzing the frequencies collected by the sensors, Moore and his colleagues determined how Devils Tower moves.

“We were able to discern the three modes of vibration,” Moore said. “The first two modes are what we might call full-height swinging, as it sways in one direction and then back in the other direction.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Unnaturally tall, narrow objects do this. "}]

It’s a physical force that constantly acts on skyscrapers, forcing architects to design and use the proper materials so their hundred-story buildings can safely sway with the wind.

The third mode of vibration Moore found was a torsional mode. That means Devils Tower twists on its vertical axis, around and back, and not just back and forth.

“That’s a rather interesting one, but again, something that's relatively common for tall buildings,” Moore said.

So, on an average day, Devils Tower is swaying and twisting back and forth.

[{"type":"text","text":"And what are the forces causing that movement? Wind and seismic activity."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Moore said Wyoming’s wind was particularly impactful on Devils Tower."}]

“When it was windier, the amplitudes of movement were higher, but the frequencies were the same,” he said.

Seismic activity was a smaller factor, but one that was easily distinguished and had an impact, according to the data collected. Moore said there is enough seismic activity to keep Devils Tower moving even on the rare windless day.

“There’s enough seismic energy to keep the tower in constant motion,” he said. “On a windy day, it's going to sway stronger, but it's still in motion on a calm day. It's just very, very subtle.”

[{"type":"text","text":"In this case, the subtlety is definitely in the details."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Never Blink And You’ll Miss It"}]

If Devils Tower is constantly in motion, could it eventually twist or sway enough to partially or fully collapse? Could the nation’s first national monument send itself to hell?

Unlikely, said Moore. While the tower is constantly in motion, that motion is so minuscule that it’s barely noticeable.

“The movements are very, very small,” he said. “They’re on the order of a micrometer. That's a thousandth of a millimeter, and a millionth of a meter. It’s easily measurable on modern seismographs, but not to the human eye.

Someone could stare at the constantly moving Devils Tower all day and not see a thing. If someone pointed a time-lapse at the tower for 100 years, it would appear to remain motionless.

The difference between Devils Tower and Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, now the tallest building in the world at 2,717 feet, is that Devils Tower is solid. That’s why the swaying and twisting of skyscrapers is noticeable and much more intense.

“Tall buildings are mostly hollow steel structures, so they sway enough that people feel ill,” Moore said. “Devils Tower is solid throughout, so its movements are very small.”

It’s also important to note that while Devils Tower constantly moves, technically it isn’t moving.

While the tower itself is swaying, twisting, and turning on a daily basis, it isn’t migrating across the landscape like the Yellowstone or Hawaiian hotspots. The volcanic activity that created Devils Tower ended a long time ago and shows no signs of reawakening.  

But what about the worst-case scenario? Moore and his colleagues have that covered.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Future In Modeling"}]

As part of their research, the team created models of Devils Tower’s structural dynamics. They used their data to create predicted resonance models visualizing its constant directional movement to the extreme.

“These are very exaggerated deformation shapes,” Moore said. “They're exaggerated so you can see the motion, and how it's bending, swaying, and twisting.”

The models are a little alarming, showing a much more precarious Devils Tower leaning to-and-fro to an extent that would make anyone scared of an imminent collapse.

However, these are not predictive models. Nobody’s saying Devils Tower can or ever would reach these extremes.

The volcanic activity that created Devils Tower ended millions of years ago. 

Today, northeast Wyoming is far from any active seismic faults that could create enough force to twist the tower out of shape or cause a collapse.

Like all geologic wonders, Devils Tower will be worn down by wind, water, and erosion over a prolonged period. Its daily micrometers of swaying, twisting, and turning are not a cause of concern.

“These animations help us understand how it might move if there were a big earthquake,” Moore said. “There isn’t any sort of risk associated with these movements that I know of, and I don’t even know that there could be.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Twist And Shout"}]

Devils Tower is the latest geologic wonder that Moore has studied using ambient vibration modal analysis. He’s done similar studies on Utah’s famous rock arches and the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.

The scientific justification for these projects is using the ambient movement of geologic landforms to determine their composition and study how their properties change over time.

“It’s called structural health monitoring,” Moore said. “What we've shown is that by placing a seismometer on top of a geologic landform for a few hours, you can derive the key structural and mechanical properties of the materials and then compare those to other materials across the world.”

Structural health monitoring can help identify the effects of cracks on famous landforms and how geologic composition may lead to future failures that could affect people.

There’s nothing to worry about at Devils Tower. According to Moore, another fact they confirmed during their research is that the monolith is “pretty monolithic.”

“In some cases, we find important impacts of cracks and other structural additions, but that’s not super prominent at Devils Tower,” he said. “Based on its rock properties, it’s pretty solid.”

Moore hopes his work will reignite interest in Devils Tower and its unique geology.

 At the very least, people who visit the iconic Wyoming landmark will know that the seemingly still, immovable object looming above them is actually constantly in motion.

“Hopefully, we’re adding a new layer to the way that people can appreciate Devils Tower,” he said. “It’s an unexpected layer of interest. The motion is very, very tiny, but it’s constantly in motion. It’s alive.”

Devils tower storm 8 7 24

<title>"It's Alive!": Scientists Say Devils Tower Is Constantly Moving | Cowboy State Daily</title>

New research published by the Geological Society of America has revealed that Devils Tower is constantly moving. An international team of geologists determined that it's perpetually and ever-so-slightly swaying, twisting, and turning in the wind.

"It's Alive!": Scientists Say Devils Tower Is Constantly Moving

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

Whether furred or feathered, with paws or hooves, all are welcome in Don Twing’s backyard north of Buffalo.

And two residents of the property, a yearling white-tailed deer buck and a female cat named Tuffitt, have become best buddies.

It only makes sense, Twing told Cowboy State Daily. The buck was born and grew up in the backyard of the home that Twing and his wife have owned for 45 years.

“He’s been around cats since he was tiny,” he said. “And she’s an outgoing, friendly little cat."

Twing grew up on a Wyoming ranch and has always liked all manner of critters, domestic and wild.

So, he’s taken steps to make his rural Johnson County home bird and animal-friendly.

“There are lots of lilac bushes and trees surrounding the backyard. I did that intentionally,” mostly in hopes of attracting birds, he said.

The rural road they live on is a popular spot for people to come dump unwanted cats. Being soft-hearted toward animals, the Twings adopted a few of the cats.

And several years ago, a white-tailed doe showed up. She was apparently so impressed with the place that she decided to take up residence and started birthing and raising her offspring there.

“I have an old white-tailed doe who hangs around,” he said.

Over the years, she’s birthed many fawns, mostly in typical sets of twins. Some of them have decided to stick around too.

Twing talked jokingly about his little resident deer herd.

“Unfortunately, yes, if the weather is bad, I can have 20 whitetails back there, bedded in the trees and the grass,” he said.

Last spring, the old doe gave birth to another set of twins, a male and a female.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘I’ve Got No Idea’"}]

The cats and the deer get along fine, with no spats breaking out between them. But they typically don’t have all that much to do with each other, other than hanging out in the same general area.

But for some reason, Tuffitt and the male from the old doe’s 2025 set of twins have taken a shine to each other.

The deer has grown into a healthy yearling buck with his first set of spike antlers coming in.

He and Tuffitt are frequently right next to each other. The cat will roll over on her back and extend a friendly paw or two. And Twing’s seen them affectionately going nose-to-nose.

Twing said he’s yet to see the cat hop on the young buck’s back for a ride, but he won’t be surprised if it happens.

When asked why those two particular animals have gotten so close, Twing chuckled.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“I’ve got no idea,” he said."}]

It might have something to do with Tuffitt’s pleasant disposition.

“She loves people. With people, she’s never met a stranger,” he said. "And I’m guessing she’s just become that way with that deer."

Given the number of rural properties with pets in Wyoming, it’s probably not unusual for some domestic and wild animals to form bonds, wildlife biologist Cat Wood told Cowboy State Daily.

“They’re cute stories, but not necessarily something that should be encouraged. It can happen just because of where we’ve built our houses in some areas,” she said.

Deer can get used to people and domestic animals, if they’re not anxious about the surroundings, Wood said.

“If it’s a low-stress environment where the deer don’t feel the pressure of predation they (deer and pets) can get used to each other,” she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Buck With No Name"}]

Twing likes having the deer around, but doesn’t regard them as pets.

“My daughter lives in Fort Collins and I had to laugh when I called and told her about the cat and the deer,” he said. "She said, ‘I suppose you named the buck’, and I said, ‘no.’"

Tuffett might soon have some more deer around.

“The little mommy doe, she’s looking pretty heavy,” Twing said. "I’m thinking that maybe here toward the middle of June she’ll have some more babies."

Friends cat deer 3 5 28 26

<title>Oh Good, A Wyoming Cat And A Deer Have Become Best Friends | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A white-tailed deer born last spring in a backyard near Buffalo has grown up to become best friends with a female named cat named Tuffitt. “He’s been around cats since he was tiny, and she’s an outgoing, friendly little cat,” said the homeowner.

Oh Good, A Wyoming Cat And A Deer Have Become Best Friends

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Business

CHEYENNE — In some ways, it was the ultimate Mother’s Day gift, even though the gift didn’t necessarily happen on that exact date. 

In 2019, Shareen Brendle’s mother was showing early signs of dementia.

“So I bought Bouquets Unlimited from her, because it was her only out for retirement,” Brendle told Cowboy State Daily. “And then she passed away in 2022.”

Four short years later, Brendle’s independent florist shop faces a tough reality. Her Mother’s Day sales were down 10% this year, even as she heard of a nearby store giving away free bouquets for the holiday as an in-store promotion.

It felt like a sign of the times to Brendle. She’s been helping her mom at the family’s legacy shop for 38 years, and she’s watched independent florist shops dwindle all along the way.

In 1992, there were 27,000 florist storefronts in America. By 2012, that number had dropped by almost half to 14,000. Today, they number 11,750. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Soon that will be 11,749. "}]

That’s because Brendle has made the difficult decision to close her mother’s store in June — one more independent florist succumbing to e-commerce and big-box price undercutting amid ever-tighter margins from rising fuel and other overhead costs.

“I’m broken-hearted about it,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “But think about the hundreds of chain stores that buy in bulk. They have hundreds of stores, so they can get better deals than small stores.”

Oftentimes, Brendle has even seen retail prices at big-box stores and supermarkets that are lower than her wholesale prices.  

“I just can’t do it anymore,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s just become tougher and tougher, and we’ve had to get tighter and tighter.”

Bouquets Unlimited has been part of Cheyenne’s business landscape for 44 years. Brendle’s mother opened the shop, and for decades the store has been as much about family and community as it has flowers.

“We really balanced each other out,” Brendle said, chuckling a little bit. “It was the yin and the yang. I got to see my mom every day. A lot of people don’t have that novelty. We worked together side by side.”

Her mom was the public face for the business — active in the Chamber, Kiwanis, and other local groups — while Brendle handled the less glamorous side of ownership. She did the hiring, the firing, the purchasing, and paying the bills.

“I did all the things that owners don’t want to do,” she said. 

But she also made beautiful arrangements, winning a national floral design contest with Florist Magazine in 1998. On a trip to Hawaii, a stranger even recognized her win.

“It was like my 10 seconds of fame,” Brendle said. “He’s like, ‘Hey, you’re the one who won that design contest.’ And he goes, ‘I love your work.’ My mom was so proud.”

Even though the man was not a celebrity or someone she knew, it was a neat experience that someone from so far away had recognized her work. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Shifting Shopper Habits"}]

For Brendle, the trend isn’t about people falling out of love with flowers. Demand for flowers has remained strong nationally, and she sees that locally as well.

The problem for small mom-and-pop stores like hers is how many people have shifted to online buying strategies, hoping to save a buck or two on bouquets.

Nationwide, marketshare for florist shops has shrunk about 1% year over year, dropping to about $7.9 billion, according to IBISWorld’s Florists in the US Industry Analysis. 

Meanwhile, digital rivals — online marketplaces, floral apps and the big national brands like 1-800-Flowers that live on the web — have grown roughly 9.1% annually. 

On top of that, flowers are regularly available in convenience stores and supermarkets, stacked in mass-merchandiser coolers or supermarket endcaps. 

They’re available through same-day delivery apps that promise sushi with a side of laundry detergent or anything else consumers desire.

Lowe’s giving away flower bouquets for Mother’s Day, a holiday that had typically been a top sales event for her store, felt like the last straw.

“They can take that hit because of all the things they sell,” Brendle said. “So guys will be like, ‘Oh sweet, now I don’t have to go to a flower shop.’ So that cuts us out. It’s just little things like that.”

The fact that such bouquets aren’t custom-designed and won’t last for very long doesn’t seem to matter to customers anymore, Brendle added. They’re cheap, they’re convenient, and for many people, that’s become “good enough.”

Behind those cheap, grocery-store bouquets is a global supply chain that only works on volume. 

The premade bunches now crowding U.S. supermarkets start in places like Colombia and Ecuador where labor is cheap.

Flowers are cut, sorted and assembled into ready-to-sell bouquets, then flown into U.S. hubs, moving through highly automated distribution centers, so they can be delivered in bulk to retail chains.

Because these bouquets arrive premade, retailers don’t need to staff a full floral department with trained designers. They can sell professionally arranged designs at much cheaper prices than a small florist shop like Bouquets Unlimited, which is sourcing high-quality flowers from all over the world — tulips from Holland, lilies from Canada, and hothouse beauties of all kinds from California, Idaho, Florida, Hawaii and more.

Brendle confronts the structural disadvantages in her industry every time she orders flowers from her Denver wholesaler. Her shop, even though it might order 5,000 roses every Valentine’s Day, is still a very small customer compared to the big chains who are buying tens of thousands.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Order Gatherers 'Racket'"}]

Brendle is also frustrated by so-called “order gatherers.” These are national call-center companies and websites that buy up florist-related domain names and search terms, and then impersonate local flower shops online.

“They’re not florists,” she said. “You’ve heard of Ava’s Flowers, From You Flowers, Ruth’s Roses … you look up a florist in whatever city and you’re always going to find them first because they own 99.9% of the domains, and it says they’re local and they deliver.”

But what actually happens when a customer places an order with them is much different than what a customer might imagine. 

“They charge the customer at least $20 for a fee, then turn around and give it to a florist in that city,” Brendle said. “The florist gets half the money they charge the customer, and then the customer gets mad because they’re like, ‘I paid $100 and that is not a $100 bouquet.’”

When Brendle looks up the order, she can see the order she got was actually for a $40 bouquet.

“It’s a racket,” she said. “They promise the customer is going to get something that looks exactly like the picture they see online, and 90% of those pictures are photoshopped. 

"There’s no way we could get a stem to go in that position in a vase like that. It’s utterly impossible. So it’s false promises straight across the board with these call centers.”

Despite all the headwinds, Bouquets Unlimited has never lacked for talented, loyal employees.

Many of her staff have been with her for decades, including one employee who has been working alongside Brendle for the last 30 years.

“I’ve got another employee who’s been here for like 25 years, one for 16, one for eight,” she said. “It’s just been a wonderful place to work.”

Having customers come in and tell her that theirs was “the best flower shop” has meant the world to Brendle over the years. 

It’s been a memorable ride, one that she feels has made the community better. When people can’t say it in words, they come to her store and she helps them say it with flowers.

She recalls customers moved to tears when they saw their wedding or funeral flowers for the first time, as well as the women who threw expensive bouquets into the trash immediately upon receiving them, because they were still mad about something.

Flower shops, she said, see the best and the very worst of people’s lives.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Keeping The Memories"}]

As June approaches, Brendle is focusing on gratitude for her staff, her longtime customers, and for the many stolen years working alongside her mother. 

“I’m so grateful for all of our customers and their patronage,” she said. “I’m just sad we’re letting them down. Actually, we’re not letting them down. The economy is letting them down.”

Brendle doesn’t plan to be idle with her time once the shop closes, however. She’s going to be helping her husband with his business, selling innovative exercise equipment to hospitals, therapy clinics, and home gyms. 

No matter what comes next, a big part of her life will always be measured by the stems and petals of corsages and casket sprays, birthday bouquets and apology flowers from a small Cheyenne shop that was part of shaping and celebrating a community in ways she’ll never forget.

Shareen Brendle florist 2026 bouquets unlimited 4002 5 30 26

<title>Cheyenne Florist To Close After 44 Years, Can't Compete With Online Giant Flower Stores | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Cheyenne’s Bouquets Unlimited is closing its doors after 44 years because they can't compete with the online giants. In 1992, there were 27,000 florist storefronts in America. Today, they number 11,750.  “I’m broken-hearted about it,” the owner said.

Cheyenne Florist To Close After 44 Years, Can't Compete With Online Giant Flower Stores

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

When Carolyn Gose Foster went to open her family’s storage unit in Powell, she could tell something was wrong. When she finally managed to get it open, the object she was most worried about was gone.

It wasn’t jewelry or furniture. It was a massive, 60-million-year-old petrified log from the ranch her family homesteaded in eastern Wyoming.

“That was such a blow to the gut for me,” Foster told Cowboy State Daily. “My dad was always afraid someone would steal it, and we told him no one could ever steal it. We never laughed at my dad, except about that.”

Foster isn’t concerned about the monetary value of the petrified log. She just wants her family heirloom back.

“It’s a matter of heart,” she said. “It connects me to my father, my family, and the ranch we homesteaded. I was floored.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Petrified Wood Purloined"}]

The petrified log was in one of two storage units rented by Foster’s parents at Branch Line Storage in Powell. They used to have five units, but the other three and all of their contents were lost in a fire in 2020.

Foster, who lives outside Denver, Colorado, swung up to Powell to look in on the units when she was in the Bighorn Basin for work this week. She immediately sensed something was amiss when she approached.

“When I drove up to work on my parents' storage, and I couldn't get the door open,” she said. “It had been pushed off the side rails on both sides, so it was jammed.”

That’s when she noticed “a shiny new lock” on the door that she’d never seen before. Strangely, the new lock had the same combination as the old one.

When she managed to open the unit, her worst fear was realized. Her father’s petrified log was gone, and someone had gone through a lot of effort to get it.

“You could see the scour marks on the concrete floor,” she said. “They didn’t just mark it. They put grooves in the concrete.”

Foster assumes whoever stole the log must have used a winch to remove it from the unit. It’s the only way her father could move it.

“It was impossible to move by hand, no matter how many people,” she said. “It was too heavy and dense. They had to have used a winch or heavy lifting equipment.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The log wasn’t the only object stolen from the unit."}]

According to Foster, the other items missing include an antique double-handed copper boiler, filled with pieces of petrified wood and agate, a cream can, and a set of deer antlers.

Naturally, Foster hopes to recover everything, but nothing matters more than that heavy piece of  petrified wood.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I never thought anyone would steal it,” she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Eyes On The Skies"}]

Robert Oren Gose was a Wyomingite with an exceptionally accomplished career. 

He was born on the Gose family ranch, which straddled Crook and Weston counties, in 1921.

He joined the U.S. Air Force during World War II, serving as a B-24 bomber pilot and lead combat pilot in the Eighth Air Force — known as the “Mighty Eighth” — through the end of the war. 

He went on to be a flight instructor and test pilot during the Korean War.

After earning a Master of Science degree in jet propulsion engineering from the California Institute of Technology, Gose worked for several aerospace and energy companies. 

He helped develop the MINUTEMAN I, II, and III ICBM weapon systems and collaborated with NASA as the agency prepared for and eventually launched the Apollo missions.

Someone has stolen a massive, 60-million-year-old piece of petrified wood from a storage unit in Powell. “My dad was always afraid someone would steal it,” said the daughter of the WWII pilot who treasured the artifact, which had become a family heirloom.

Daily Cartoon: Sunday, December 29, 2024

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