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!

It's Over...

5/28/24 Showers Across the Valley - image ©Bruce A. Morrison

It's official now...the Drought in Iowa has finally ended.  No exclamation point punctuating the end of that opening statement yet, but I am happy none-the-less.

It's been a bit of a mixed bag of course, nothing is ever straight forward or simple.  The weather systems in the middle of the country have come with a cost...flooding and damaging storms in many areas.  Iowa lost the best part of two small communities in the SW/Central part of the state from tornadoes.  Its been bad elsewhere too.  

Its been a bit of a race with area farmers trying to get crops in during the melee...the neighbor just got his beans in behind us yesterday afternoon.  I was kidding him a bit and said he still had a couple hours before the next rain comes and he said he didn't think he could disk and plant another 300 acres before then!  He'll be looking for another hole in the storms like so many others I guess.

5/28/24 Showers in the "Neighborhood" - image ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

Its been a real joy "here" to see everything as it "used to be"...the pastures were mostly burned late last winter and early this spring.  We left the NW quarter unburned to help the invertebrates out...had a bonus surprise there just two days ago - our 3rd Prairie Skink in 22 years!!!  We had our 2nd Prairie Skink outside the sheep barn in the south pasture late last summer...that really gave me hope that maybe they could make a come-back.  Now I'm optimistic!  Yes, even this pessimist is now optimistic!  What a little rain can do for a person, right?  Our first Prairie Skink here came the first or second week we moved here in the Fall of 2002...we discovered it in the mouth of the farm cat that came with the place!  Ouch!  Was so sad to see that.  

Red-headed Woodpecker on the acreage - image ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

We do not allow cats out side here unless supervised anymore...we are just down to one now and she is my studio kitty...I'm afraid that little rescued lady is indoors bound.  Don't get me wrong...I have had cats since I was a little kid, but I've witnessed first hand what they do outdoors.  I revisited a report I read many years ago on birds...it was reinstated recently due to the precipitous fall in the world bird population.  Cats are the LARGEST documented cause in the drop in the population of birds.  Larger than habitat loss even - very significant!  And I will be witness to the significance of that here - we have lots of birds...more than we used to before bringing all the cats inside...lots more!  And they are more successful in raising their broods than I have witnessed in past years.

Anticrepuscular Rainbow - 5-8-2024 - image ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

 

This last day of May marks an interesting month here, its been quite eventful really.  We get rainbows here fairly often each year...except during the drought when it's not raining of course!  We had a rainbow on the 8th of May that was kind of special in it's own way - a rainbow accompanied by ANTICREPUSCULAR RAYS. I have only witnessed Crepuscular and Anticrepuscular rays 6 or 7 times in my life - and ALL of them Out Here. Most people have either never seen them before or just didn't realize what they were witnessing.

 

Here's a WIKIPEDIA Quote for a brief explanation - "Anticrepuscular rays, or antisolar rays, are meteorological optical phenomena similar to crepuscular rays, but appear opposite the Sun in the sky. Anticrepuscular rays are essentially parallel, but appear to converge toward the antisolar point, the vanishing point, due to a visual illusion from linear perspective."

 

Fun huh!

 

Northern Lights from the North Pasture - 5-10-2024 - image ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

 

But the Crème de la crème was the Aurora Borealis on May 10!  A solar storm so active that the Aurora was visible into Mexico and the South Pacific!!!

 

I was so fortunate I got photographs from the north pasture here...even luckier I went out and set up when I did.  It was still daylight; that civil twilight when you can still make things out but the darkness is closing in.  And there they were!  Spiking high and moving around.  I had to be quick and probably got the best of the evening - the shot above shows the foreground still discernible and the moon off to the west as the Aurora danced on the horizon!  The next 45 minutes was great fun but I still prefer this image, as the rest had the foreground only as a blank black canvas.

 

Well May was great for us...here's to June being better!

 

Have a great rest of your Spring out there and always - be good to one another...we are not all the same, yet we are all from the same Maker and Loved Equally.  Again - Be Good To One Another.

 

Until next time...See you on the Tallgrass!

A Rant or Hope?

This might be a wordy post...the image is from last year, yet this morning we have 2 Great Blue Herons on the Waterman Creek Great Blue Heron Rookery across the valley this morning.

I'm hopeful, but a backstory follows.

Last year the rookery failed...for the first time since it was colonized back in the 80's and 90's. It failed last year largely (my speculation) because of the drought we've fought since 2020. Their local fishery/food source failed...the Waterman quit flowing in the late summer of 2022. With remaining small stagnant pools freezing to the bottom during the 2022-23 winter, there was a system fish die-off. Although the Waterman began a small flow in 2023, it once again stopped flowing shortly before Labor Day in 2023. Then in October we received an amazing 6.5" 2 day rainfall and the Waterman once again began to flow. The fishery had some months to experience resurgence but just how long will a self sustaining condition actually take?

Great Blue Herons - Waterman Rookery

The rookery "tried" last year...in June it was abandoned...when around 30 pairs of birds give up - something is wrong. That can't be argued.

Water is much too taken for granted in Iowa. A fairly significant stream stops flowing two years in a row, yet no one seems to notice? Well maybe nitpickers like myself...

In December of 2022 the Des Moines Register ran an article on the Ocheyedan River...a 2 mile stretch of the river ran dry for the first time in recorded history. This event was apparently man made and technically illegal. But who noticed? Apparently someone needs to notice for any story to surface. Thankfully someone did notice and it was reported. But has the situation changed? Maybe, or its going to be glossed over and forgotten because yesterday it started raining - Finally.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2022/12/21/section-of-iowa-river-goes-dry-as-water-pumped-to-minnesota-customers/69745918007/

"IF" things return to a "historic norm", maybe we won't see degenerative siphoning of our stream's water tables. But our resources are not finite...hear how much the proposed Carbon Pipelines will require to take from our water tables and aquifers? It is staggering!

The Waterman never had the type of struggle it now has with water usage from it's existing water table. When the upstream Ethanol plant was built back around 16-17 years ago, not a noticeable "visible" change in the creek was apparent. But the Geological Survey no longer measured stream flow of the Waterman, so who would notice?

Once the drought began in 2020 here, things started slowly changing...by 2022 it was obvious the Waterman system was in trouble. When a stream - for the first time in memory - quits flowing...it's mouth at the Little Sioux completely bone dry; there is a problem.

Could a new drain on a water resource, like the Valero plant in Hartley exacerbate the issue? The Valero web site states it produces 140 million gallon of ethanol per year, and it takes 3 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of ethanol. 420 million gallons of water per year from the water table along Waterman Creek. How much of an impact on a drought stricken stream and it's ecosystem would taking away 450 million gallons a year make??? I'm not a hydrologist nor a scientist but when a stream goes dry like this, all stresses have to have a cumulative causal affect.

While the Ocheyedan River drying up in that localized section of it's stream was attributed to the siphoning off "for sale" to another state, it may not have been noticed had the drought not have happened.

But the drought did happen and while we are "Maybe" climbing out of that drought - that doesn't mean we can just go back to business as usual and not protect our natural water resources. It has proven to us to not be finite!

So much of our natural heritage is hidden from view...what is in that stream? We see water and assume all is well with the world. But we are being assaulted by nitrogen and herbicide runoff, the loss of invertebrates and viable fisheries, as well as amphibians and turtles - so its very likely "all isn't as it seems".

Case-in-point - the 50 mile fish kill in the East Nishnabotna River south of Red Oak just last week, due to a huge fertilizer spill, apparently an untended valve just gave it all to the river......all man made destruction.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/tech/science/environment/2024/03/18/iowa-fertilizer-spill-results-in-miles-long-fish-kill-east-nishnabotna-river-red-oak/72995246007/ 

Everything in nature is connected...how many times has that got to be said? Are we all so far removed from the natural world now that we don't give it a passing thought any more???

If there are no longer invertebrates, micro-organisms, fish, amphibians, OR WATER in the streams - then we lose everything else above ground and the Waterman Rookery is now serving it's own sad purpose as being the proverbial "Canary in the Mine".

Two Great Blue Herons showed up this morning...they were sitting together on one of the few abandoned nests from last year.

I have hope. Is there still time for them? It all starts somewhere. There has to be some skin in the game or we are all going to lose something, piece by piece...

(Great Blue Heron and Nest photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison)

 

A Most Uncommon Year it Was...

 

Winter Blue Jay - photograph ©Bruce A. Morrison

 

A New Year has been with us for a bit over a week and I'm still pondering what just happened...for one, last year was over before it began...for another thing, it was good and not so good at the same time.  Confusing huh.

We had entered our 4th straight year of drought here; the spring and summer weren't what we needed to change that, but still there was some moisture at opportune times...it helped the garden, and helped the farmers "just" enough to quell our tendency to dwell on our circumstances.

The Herons returned to the rookery here, the neighbor's fields were prepared and planted, and the pastures started greening up - things seemed "normal".  How we've grown to expect things to move along as we are so accustomed!  

Then drought repeated...the Herons abandoned their rookery for the first time since the nesting colony was established well over 20 years ago. (The Waterman dried for the first time in memory in 2022, and went into winter with a vulnerable fishery pooled up in small isolated pools - which froze to the bottom in the 22-23 winter temps.)  The Waterman quit flowing once again this past summer after Labor Day.

The small birds of the yard and pasture were still a joy; we had Bluebirds nesting again for the first time since the drought began in 2021.  However it was the first year we've witnessed Tree Swallows failing to nest here.  We arrived here over 20 years ago and became accustomed to 20-30 Barn Swallows patrolling the acreage; this year we had 6 pairs, down from 7-8 last year.

Some notable plants in our pasture, having gone dormant 3-4 years past, still did not reappear.  However our gravel esker hillside still offered up amazing color, albeit shorter stature and blooming time.

"Another" year saw historical warm global temperatures.

The world once again roiled in turmoil. 

As summer progressed, our family suffered joy and great loss. 

As fall came into it's time, we saw warmer temps and an unusual gift of 6.5" of rain in 2 days...it was appreciated and celebrated by everyone here!  It got the Waterman flowing once more, however small the flow may be - its a good thing.

Then the warmest November and December I've ever remembered myself.  The ground stayed receptive (unfrozen) and we got an inch and a half of rain here on Christmas Eve day and Christmas day!

We did manage a south pasture burn in November; I had been picking seed all fall and had finally decided to broadcast it over the top of the south pasture on the 23rd of December.  Hopefully this planting will see fruition!

And now we start this second week of the New Year with a return to what we are always accustomed to here - frigid temperatures and snow.  Lets keep that sowed seed covered!

Yes it was an uncommon year - at least for us.  We are thankful for the Blessings from it, and pray for all those around us who have loved and lost, toiled, reaped and harvested.  May this New Year be kind to you and may you be kind to others.  We are all of one family and this world is our only home.

Thanksgiving!

 

"Autumn in the Waterman Valley" photo - ©Bruce A. Morrison

It has been a hard year for many; continues to be so for the planet - yet I want to be thankful for what blessings our family has received...not just this year but throughout our lives.

Firstly I am thankful for my life, my family my friends and neighbors...for this place that we were brought to over 20 years ago now.  Georgie never liked uneven years; although I never gave it much thought, I don't think she was far off on this one.  But although we lost loved ones, or suffered some hardships, we are so thankful for every blessing!  We have no guarantees in this life, but I am grateful everyday for taking breath and witnessing the beauty of it all!

I have been absent from the blog since mid-summer; I will throw in a smattering of what keeps our spirits going, with a few descriptions where warranted.  Happy Thanksgiving to each of you out there!

Bumble Bees and Tree Crickets enjoyed our pasture in late summer!

 

 

The Monarch roosts returned in late August.

Bald Eagle activity always picks up here beginning in late summer - this one in the yard!

Drought still a concern in September as the Waterman quit flowing again this year...

 

 

The trail camera watches all the traffic passing the barn at night.

Things change, and then change again - this was fleeting - gone now.

 

Lots of friends return or pop by for a visit!

 

Georgie and I were able to burn the south pasture for the first time in 3-4 years due to an amazing rain event that lasted about 3 days!  I hope to plant seed I've been collecting for the past month or more...waiting for a "lasting" winter event before seeding that pasture.

The Waterman is flowing once more but is still in need of a return to normal rainfall.

So much has been put to bed here and just awaiting winter.

I hope this finds you and yours well - ready for a celebratory Thanksgiving feast or just a grateful break to reflect on what is good and welcome in your lives.

Think about those things - this world cannot exist unless we are good to one another.  Isn't that what life is about?  There is no "them" and "us"...we are all of one family.  There are no "scores" to be kept nor settled, no "even" to be gotten.  Ponder the good in your lives and spread it out to those in need - they are your brothers and sisters...we are all one...

...Being Thankful.

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!