Time???!

 

A wet humid morning in the valley here.

 

Time is everyone's biggest nemesis, whether we realize it or not.  It has been going through my fingers like sand this summer...maybe part of that is because of the weather, but then there has been a lot going on in the family as well.

 

Evening Rainbows, showers and lightning out front.

We've had a wet late spring and now summer...just 4" this week alone, and I believe our June had around 9 inches.  That is very wet for us, especially seeing we were in a severe drought here from 2020 through 2023 (4 years)...then after a record flood in early 2024 last June, it stopped raining...for months.  Its really screwed up I'd say!

The weather has been great for a change though, but with it comes more work to keep up with things...Georgie in the gardens, me in the pastures and ditches.  Keeping up with weeds on steroids is something we haven't seen for awhile...at least "some" pull more easily, others still need the fork.

 I haven't gotten off the place in some time; my artwork has taken a hiatus.  Too much to get into here, but actually most summers have too much outside time to get in any amount of "easel" time...that works better in the winter when the snow and ice put an end to outdoor chores (other than shoveling or plowing anyway).  But I love the prairie pasture when it wakes up, and wouldn't have it any other way!

 

Baltimore Oriole at its nest here on the acreage!

And the birds!  My greatest love since childhood!  They have not disappointed either...I think I just opened our 50th 32 ounce jar of grape jelly since spring for the Orioles!  We have lots and they serenade us and flash their exuberance and colors...we have both Baltimores and Orchard Orioles here - multiple pairs.

 

Red-headed Woodpecker adult peeking around the corner at me.

One of the Red-headed Woodpecker juveniles here.

I kind of bombed out trying to find the Red-headed Woodpecker's nest this summer, but they're sharing a lot of viewing time for us while they're out and about...even recently got a photo of one of the juveniles that was reared here this summer!

 

Dawn - early light in SE O'Brien County.

I did get a nice request for another article for the Wildflower Wednesday offering through "Bleeding Heartland".  I finally had an excuse to get off the acreage, probably a good thing since its hard for me to do these past few years...getting old has some side effects I'm afraid. 

 

McCormack Area in SE O'Brien County.

I was asked to do an article on Hairy Four O'Clocks (Mirabilis albida) and needed some more images to write the article so ran down to the McCormack Area south of us, where I photographed some back in 2023.  The morning did not disappoint - it was drop dead gorgeous!

The article for Wildflower Wednesday was published a couple days ago at the following link...be sure and watch the video at the end...take in some sounds and sights of the morning there!

https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/07/23/iowa-wildflower-wednesday-hairy-four-oclock/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLwxclleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFwTXVlNEU4U0JJdWJMSG9FAR6Bln-NZ9q3cLLDzQhHdyo4DYooQ2tzfTD4Vfthwec04_dsI6A4WmiZneyvVQ_aem_8fAQUVwRmVQPm0v4CKTZmA 

Time???!  Although the context was a bit different, I do believe that the Rolling Stones got it terribly wrong - "Oh, time, time, time is on my side, yes it is"...I wish it were true for all of us!

Take care out there and please be good to one another - we are all in this together. 

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass! 

 

Into August

 

"Prairie Bale - No.1" - Oil Painting - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Although this month has half expired, I still think of it as new.  I probably exhaust people with my lamentations of time slipping through our figurative fingers, but in my mind - August just arrived!

I just recently finished a small oil painting of a hay bale in a nearby county area planted to prairie.  It brings about many thoughts to mind.

About 25 years ago I met a farmer down in Larabee, Iowa who had hayed the prairie ground on Steele prairie (Northern Cherokee County) every summer during his youth and younger years. He talked of the amazing flowers and grasses, the Prairie Skinks, and the grassland birds...the ground had never been plowed.

 

It must have been just like the early settlers trying to make due with life on this virgin earth...imagine the smell of the fresh cut prairie vegetation, the sight and sounds of bounty back then!

 

A small plot of county land a couple miles north of us holds nothing quite as dramatic, but when I discovered the prairie planting there had been mowed and baled, I couldn't resist taking some photos and trying an oil painting of one. (SE O'Brien County)

 

Although the haying of prairie 100+ years back would not resemble the round bales of modern farming by any stretch of the imagination - I cannot resist the temptation of images of hay bales in the landscape. The Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) flowering around in the recovering native grasses give that hint of those days hearkening back to the pioneer beginnings on the tallgrass.

 

As the painting sits on my easel drying, I contemplate another perhaps...time will tell.

I have been posting fairly regularly on my You Tube Account the past few weeks...one from this week featured Cup Plants while another this week featured Swamp Milkweed.

Feel free to check them out! 

 

Consider subscribing to my You Tube Channel as well!

We seem to go from feast to famine here.  The rain shut off in early July...little over an inch of rain through some very hot and windy weeks.  Georgie has been having to hand water her two gardens, which never works as well as rain.  She has now gone through all 8 rain barrels.  We have no well here.

The pre-Christmas seeding I did on the south pasture has mostly dried up.  I don't know if the heavy spring rain here brought them on too quickly?  But they sprouted upward and had quite an impressive canopy of leaves - really surprised me.  Then the sky turned off and the heat and high winds turned on...now most of the new growth is shriveled and dried up looking.  But that pasture is mostly gravel slope...just drains too well.  I'm of the thought that the early abundance of moisture may have handicapped new plants...hope I'm wrong.

A wet Red-headed Woodpecker appreciates any rain showers as well!

 

We are getting some light showers right now - about time!  So appreciate any rain what-so-ever...

I hope everyone out there is doing well and having had a decent summer so far.  We still have about 5 weeks of it left to enjoy out there - please do!

Be good to one another, we are all in this together!

See you on the Tallgrass!

Very Rough Row to Hoe

Our Road when we awakened June 22

June was a surreal month here.  We had been getting a great deal of rain, and were so happy to have it that I guess we forgot to turn off the faucet!  That can happen to a person when they couldn't buy a drop to save themselves for the past 4 years.

But it was too much rain...way too much, and it kept falling - especially to our north and in southern  Minnesota.  We are downstream of course.

We lost our bridge up on the highway; it was washed out underneath on the east end.  The water you see in the photo above was much, much higher before we were awake and aware that there was trouble during the night.  All that you see in the photo and far behind me was under a "rushing" current, for at least an eighth of a mile.  I estimate the water level had dropped at least 18" before this photo was taken.

 

About 45 minutes later I took this photo of the neighbor's pasture across the road.

Things weren't nearly as bad here as the communities had up along the border and south along the Little and Big Sioux Rivers.  Most notably Spencer, and Rock Valley, but Spencer, being a much larger community, suffered a much greater loss of homes and businesses.  It's been a week now since the flooding occurred and all communities and people affected are still dealing with it and will be for a long time to come...to put it mildly I am afraid.

With all the rain we've had since May (June alone has recorded over 10 inches at our place) all of the pastures in the region look like they're on steroids.  Our north pasture is TALL and filled with plants.  The south pasture seeding just before Christmas is showing a lot of seedlings popping up here and there.  I had spent some time back in late April knocking brome back, but should have continued as its getting tall enough again to shade the new growth out.  Never a finished job around here. 

We've had a good bird population again, but as you can see in the flooded pasture photo, it looks like our Bobolink broods did not survive.  Unlike the other grassland nesters, the Bobolinks do not re-nest, just another casualty of this weather.  Even some roadside nesters like the Red-wing Blackbirds and Dickcissels were set back, yet those will retry with the summer still ahead.  Bobolinks, however are summer nomads and after the first week or so of July, flock together and spend their remaining summer wandering about.

 

The Bobolink nests were flooded out this year; we hope next year is kinder to all of us!

In trying to keep up with photographing/documenting all the prairie plants this year, I decided to try something different.  I began recording a very short video of each forb, grass, invertebrate, critter, whatever, to give a glimpse into what is sharing this place with us.  I'm calling these very brief glimpses "Prairie Moments".  I've been posting these 1-3 times a week on my Face Book pages, and sharing to other pages for the Iowa Prairie Network, the Flora of Iowa page, the Iowa Wildflower Enthusiasts page and the Iowa Wildflower Report pages.  I have not gone to other social media sites like Instagram and seriously doubt I will...I have enough trouble just doing this blog most months!  And the Face Book entries keep me pretty busy anyway.

If you are not a Face Book user (I do not blame you if you aren't!) then you can visit my You Tube Channel, which I have a couple that I've used since the early 2000's.  The channel the "Prairie Moments" videos (and many others) can be found on are at this link - 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvYJOX68HwKFLdPZqkm6Qw

I'll insert one of the "Prairie Moments" here too so you can have a quick look!

 (If the video preview above does not work on your device - just click on this link directly to You Tube - https://youtu.be/BCVb7kipies?si=RhmUqZNSHuo4RfXU )

 

Rain storms the new "Norm"...photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

I was just reading an article on our planet's warming trend.  It seems that for every degree rise (I assume Fahrenheit but maybe they were referring to Centigrade?), the atmosphere takes on an additional 4% of water vapor...the atmosphere so far has had to take on an additional 10+% of water vapor and it cannot hold it.  We end up with more rain and larger rain events.  I guess our current condition  (in our region) is also due to a large heat dome over New England; this moisture cannot pass through that heat dome and it all visits us instead.

So it appears we are still stuck in a storm/rain pattern here for the foreseeable future...hunkering down for a heavy rain even as I type this entry.  We'll all do our best to adjust...what else can we do?  

We truly need to be more in tune to this planet we all share.  We are responsible in the end!

Stay safe out there and be good to one another 

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

Summer Solstice

 

Just finished Spring - a chilly start and a HOT finish!  "Now" it feels like Summer!  Crazy stuff...

Prairie Phlox (Phlox pilosa) - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

The pastures here have been mixed in their forbs, but mostly everything has been a couple weeks later than the average from years past. Just yesterday I realized that the Prairie Phlox just bloomed and the Spiderwort is about finished.  The June Grass was at its peak last week an now maturing quickly along with the Porcupine Grass.

 

I have been playing catch up here in the Studio as usual - I have only been able to get out one morning before sunrise this June...it has been so windy that the small stuff in the pasture hasn't been too willing to hold reasonably still for my camera.  But - the evenings on the "Prairie Schooner" (my old '82 EZ-Go electric golf cart) have been fun...one thing I've been chasing are the Dickcissels, which seem more numerous this year.  

We have been hearing Bobolinks "occasionally"...don't know if they are nesting here or not?  We are just holding our breath that the pasture across the road from us "Doesn't" get mowed before the end of June this summer.  Last summer it'd been mowed early and we lost the nesting Bobolinks...a very sad occurrence...very sad.

Our Meadowlark population sounds decent - more calling than last summer...some behind us...we are hopeful there too. 

I'll end this post with a guest blog I wrote on invitation for Bleeding Heartland's "Wildflower Wednesday" - give it a read if you have a moment.  I hope you enjoy it!  Have a good summer - and stay cool out there!

https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2022/06/15/iowa-wildflower-wednesday-a-prairie-home-remnant-in-obrien-county/?fbclid=IwAR1EGI3peIrcO_mOYme0IZVqZQCphEaScnEXHLKqYI-VFYh_kCf2HE5D9oo

Merry Christmas from Prairie Hill Farm!

 

Well the web site had been fully revised and launched! 

My website has been in need of updating for longer than I care to admit, so nearly this entire Fall has been devoted singularly to that. The address is the same - www.morrisons-studio.com

The web site will now automatically format properly for desk top, lap top, tablet and mobile device viewing, and be enabled for SSL - making it a secure site from here on out; all big steps I needed to take. It will also be much easier for me to update in the future - no longer doing html the old way will be a joy after doing it "manually" the past 25 years!

Surprisingly the studio sales have been fairly robust during all my chaos this year - the "originals" (paintings and drawings) have sold so well I have a lot of work ahead of me to fill empty spots on the gallery walls this winter!!! A lot to be grateful for! Thank you "Everyone" for your interest and support!

 

The NW pasture got its fall burn about 4 weeks back and seeded from the harvested north and east pastures.  We got seed broadcasted the day before a 5-6" snowfall, which is an ideal fall planting.  THEN...the December 15th freakish storm of 80+ mph winds...driving rain...plus 30 tornadoes in Iowa...and temps in the 60's-70's came through!  Ugh...oh well, we'll see what comes of it!

 

Merry Christmas!

I would like to sign off here in thanking everyone that has visited the studio this and in past years.

I hope each one of you and your families were able to celebrate your Christmas in a special and cherished way.

ALL my Best Wishes to you in the New Year!

 

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

 

 

 

Beat the Heat!!!

August 23, 2020 - "Over Pocahontas" - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Finally!!!!!!!!!  It's the 29th of August and its "Decent" outside!  Very pleasant day in the shade and even in the sun...I hope we outlasted the heat.

August 17, 2020 - "Over SW Minnesota" - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Its been a bugger...slightly over a quarter inch for the entire month of August and most of the plants in the prairie pasture are going dormant or look like they wish they had.  Everything will be fine, its just a "brown out" type of a scene with the golden rods and sunflowers doing the majority of the lifting of colors.  One good side to it is we haven't had to mow the acreage since the first week of July!  Oh - the other good side of it is we have not suffered through Durecho wind storms nor hurricanes or forest fires and we're still healthy!  A person must always count their blessings and be grateful...I say this sincerely.

August 16, 2020 - "Over Storm Lake" - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison 

We have had some spectacular evening skies around here the past month.  As storms developed in the region, they always split around us - leaving us dry but with awesome views of their majesty!  It was frustrating but as I said, we've been very fortunate.

     "Distant Thunder - Redtail" - color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

Things have been unusually brisk here at the studio, cannot explain it other than just saying I'd better get busy this winter as my walls are getting bare!  My participation in the 2020 Birds in Art international exhibit in Wausau, WI comes up in a couple weeks!  Although this will be the first time I haven't gone to see the opening in person when I've been included - everything's changed with Covid...it will still be an outstanding showing of Bird Artists the world over!  I just sent a small piece for an auction the Woodson Art Museum is having for Birds in Art...they do a "post card" auction of small 4X6" originals and I contributed a small color pencil drawing "Distant Thunder - Red-tail" for the auction...I'll at least be there in spirit 😊

Bring on September I say...and I beg your sincere pardon if it sours on us all as this summer seems to have.  Hope we at least finally beat the heat!

 

Glaciers still in the yard but its Spring!

Great Blue Herons in the valley

 (photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

Spring has finally arrived the the valley here and we have been most fortunate as far as our flooding here.  A week and a half ago we were taking on water pretty fast and the valley in front was threatening lake front property once again, but fortunately all the culverts broke open in time to spare the road and its been dropping back to the channel since.  

 

We are so, so lucky and count our blessings as we watch the dire situation in extreme western Iowa and the eastern half of Nebraska...a perfect storm did happen after a heavy snowfall and rains exacerbated the completely saturated soils from last year's record rains - it was all downhill from there for anyone in the flood plains of the Missouri River and its tributaries.   Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the flooding going on right now.

 

Things are starting to look "normal" here for a change...we still have 4 foot drifts covering most of Georgie's barn garden but she was able to get into the yard garden and peek under the snow flattened hoops and see that the spinach did survive the winter this year - YAY!!!  Last year the mice had set up shop under her row covers and dined on spinach all winter...we have strong mice out here!

 

Juvenile Bald Eagle

 (photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

We have been seeing a few Great Blue Herons returning to the Waterman Creek rookery the past few days, but in low numbers so far.  Yesterday we had 8 herons riding a thermal high above the rookery.  The last time we witnessed this there was "Eagle trouble" brewing.  Well, sure enough, a couple juvenile Bald Eagles were harassing the herons - one flying around the hovering flock and another sitting smack in the middle of the rookery!

 

Eventually the two trouble makers tired of the game and headed off right over the studio deck where Georgie and I were watching - giving us great neck bending looks as they passed.  In the next hour 8 more Bald Eagles flew past the acreage - bee lining straight north on the wind.  On top of that uncounted flocks of Canada and Snow Geese streamed past heading north as well - spring is definitely in play now!

Grateful that Spring has arrived - prayers to all those being faced with loss to flooding.  

 

Take care and be good to one another!

Sneaking Past!!!

 Band-winged Meadowhawk

in morning dew at Prairie Hill Farm

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Time is sneaking past me!!!  I hope I'm not the only one that notices...it should "NOT" be September already!!!!

I'm afraid I'm a victim of technology...my work/business computer was "blue screening" me nearly every day this summer and I finally broke down and bought a new one.  Well - I found how difficult it is replacing 10 years worth of software and passwords!!!  The software thing was a the major "time eater" and is still my nemesis - Auuugggghhhhhh!!!!!  Its been 4 weeks and I still have some hurdles to get over...I liked Windows 7 better!!!!  (Sorry for complaining so much.)

I found a couple days ago I couldn't even interact with my blogs.  2 days later (with no help from google!) I finally got control back and can no longer procrastinate and am trying to get back to blogging once more.  (Oops, complaining again!)

We are right in the middle of the Bird and Monarch migrations now.  We had our first Monarch Roost on August 30th and are just now hatching out Monarchs in the pasture too...we'll see one more roost and they'll likely all be on their way to Mexico!  I do have a few caterpillars and chrysalises here inside the studio...these are from eggs I found here on the acreage and I brought them inside to "finish out" so as to give them a better chance at reaching adulthood.  (I've read that survival can be as low as 5% in the wild for eggs and caterpillars - adopting and keeping a watch can increase that a lot - so far I'm getting 100% survival).

 

 Monarch Roost at Prairie Hill Farm - 8-30-2018

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison 

It's kind of a bittersweet thing when this time of the year comes along, and all your "friends" start leaving.  This morning we only have one Baltimore Oriole left; we still have 2-3 Hummers around the feeders and the Catbirds, Barn Swallows and Red-headed Woodpeckers are still around.  But it won't be long.  At least that will bring our northern fall migrants through and then our winter residents, so there's a bright side to every thing that comes about.

If you haven't been out there, you might want to do so - Summer is sneaking past...don't miss it!

Mid Summer and Gorgeous!

 Prairie Hill Farm

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

The heat has just abated a little and the Black Flies (having undergone a second hatch) have finally calmed down a bit...now its the skeeters - but hey, the dragonflies, bats and swallows need to eat too!  The prairie pastures have continued to wow me...the insects, birds, grasses and forbs are giving cause to pause and watch.  Get out if you can...I know that life tends to get in the way, but a quiet walk is in order!

(Click on any image for a larger view)

 

 

 Monarch Butterfly (male) feeding on Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) 

in the pasture here at Prairie Hill Farm

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Mass of Cup Plants (Silphium perfoliatum) in bloom in the pasture

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum)  

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Fairy Napkin! OK...just a dew covered spider web! 

The "little fairy" can be seen peeking out from it lair in the upper hole in the web 

(should have zoomed in on him). 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Gray-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 My favorites in the low areas of the pasture and ditches - 

Swamp Milkweed! (Asclepias incarnata)  

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Mass of Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) - delicate little plants, balanced in the left foreground by spikes of Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) 

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Mass of Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) 

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

The prairie keeps changing - hopefully I can keep up and record it...if you get a chance - get out and enjoy it.

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!!!