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! 

 

July Only Comes Once a Year...

Red-headed Woodpecker - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Of course it does!  I guess I'm trying to be metaphorical...or maybe melancholy?  Even I don't know.  Maybe getting older has me thinking about things too much.  I was so used to saying to myself things like "I've got to try and see those next July."  Or maybe "We really should take that trip to (fill in the blank) next summer.  I'm not quite there yet but so many things are now out of my reach - they were great ideas but now no longer in the cards.  Especially things like that long hike or trek I always thought would be great to do...even some places I've long had permission to walk with my camera are beginning to be out of the question any more.  If you haven't reached that place in your life, it is sobering when they confront you, and you realize fully, I shouldn't have kept putting it off.  That is "life".

 

 

Lately, when I'm up to it, I have been trying very hard to take each moment and have fun with it.  When I was younger, I was busy with things that seemed important.  Now I know so much of it wasn't.  And now, everything is (important).

 

Female Eastern Bluebird - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

We have had such a fun year with nature here on our little postage stamp sized acreage.  Every day I try and watch and catch things before they pass. 

 

Cottontail Rabbit...rabbits make Georgie crazy! - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Echinacea angustifolia in our pasture - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Pearly Crescentspot (Phyciodes tharos) - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Asclepias tuberosa in the pasture here - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

 

Now I haven't caught everything with the camera or easel of course...it's just not possible.  But what I miss stays with us in other ways - the Yellow-billed Cuckoo which calls from high in the grove, we know its there as it sings for us each day.  Then there's the Eastern Wood Pewee that we also hear each day; we do see it "fly catching" from the lower branches around the yard, but often we only hear it talk to us.  

The morning chorus has been amazing.  I used to try and record it with audio equipment in past years...maybe succeeded in a small way but could never do it justice!  Always first seems to be the Robins, then the Catbirds and Mourning Doves, then the Chipping Sparrows and the Orioles and Meadowlarks and Dickcissels, House Wrens, and so many others...sleeping with the windows open is a blessing!

We have noticed those missing this year...we no longer hear the night time calling of Sedge Wrens, and this year no juvenile Great Horned Owls or summer Redtailed Hawks.  Although the Great Blue Herons returned to the Waterman Creek rookery this spring - they abandoned the rookery in mid June and none raised their young here.

Not every year is the same..some things change, and not always as we'd wish.  Although we still have our ash trees here in the acreage and in the valley out front - there are farmsteads only a 5 minute trip from us that are losing all of theirs as I speak.  We are not far behind. 

But I will try and take in and enjoy in any way I can what is given to us each day as it happens...each day is a gift!  There is so much to see and do and July only comes once a year.

Be good to one another out there - we truly need each other. 

 

Hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

 

June is "Dickcissel Month"...Just Say'n

 

 

(color pencil drawing - ©Bruce A. Morrison)

I got an idea last summer, reveling in all the Dickcissels living along our road and pastures. Nothing deep or serious mind you...and selfishly - something just for my own fun. I have to keep reminding myself - if you aren't having fun, then knock off what your doing and get to it...life is too short! 

 

I don't exactly recall why or how I came to this idea? Maybe it was all the perseverance these birds were being educated to each day - forming and raising families...staking their territorial claims and announcing that every day...all day long. Its really quite something to see and hear throughout the summer months.

 

I decided to just have fun and dedicate this artwork to them...all the graduates of Prairie Hill Farm - Class of '22. They wouldn't all pose for their class pictures but I got a few of them...mostly the guys of course, but a couple girls showed up as well.

 

Making this reminiscent of an old country school class composite did present some issues for me.  Color pencil is not a good tool for lettering nor graphics...I almost gave up the silly idea half way through, even before getting to the birds. I should've farmed that part off to someone who is actually "Good" at lettering and calligraphy...like our Daughter-in-Law Amy, she's a "Natural" at design and lettering - just look around our house!

 

The birds were fun - as was the central image representing their "school grounds"...putting everyone in a oval was "not" fun...not an easy shape constraint for my tired eyes and hands.

 

But here's to the "Prairie Hill Farm Summer Academy - Dickcissel Class of '22" - of whom many graduates returned this year and every year, to school their young and bring them up to be proud little Dickie Birds (as someone once called them)!!!

 

(color pencil drawing - ©Bruce A. Morrison)

 

I decided to declare June as "Dickcissel Month", in honor of these little birds and the memory they leave behind after they head south at summer's end.   I still have a glimmer of a seed to sprout a more serious Dickcissel piece someday...maybe a painting, who knows?

 

But I still remind myself not to take things too seriously, and have fun in the moment!

 

Be good to one another out there - hope to see you on the Tallgrass!