The big hoppers

They're back. For weeks now you can't walk through a patch of grass or weeds without raising a cloud of tiny grasshoppers. And they grow. I've read accounts of clouds of them appearing on the horizon and all but blotting out the sun. Then, when they pass, like a living tsunami, nothing is left in their wake. They have been the destructive agent of many prairie farms in the past.

This is a big fellow. He measured 3" from feelers to vent.

Prairie hawk

Soaring
on the sun-kindled wind
glidering at elegant ease.

Steering with rudder of tail
he rises and falls
on wings of hunger
and surfeit.

High Plains Lushness

The hills are high in grass. As high as I have ever seen it. As good as the grass is, it breeds a constant fear of fire. We haven't had an appreciable rain for about two weeks now, after week after week of uncommon precipitation. The hills are drying at a great rate and with our accustomed every-evening thunderstorms we are just biding our time until we have a fire. Range fires are no joke, and with the grass waist high and higher, it is a very real threat. The winds that accompany the thunder storms can drive a fire across the plains at forty miles an hour. Not a pleasant thought in this otherwise idyllic summer.

Cropland

South of the river the land changes abruptly and dramatically. It flattens out and becomes... cropland. There are patches that remain untilled, and are mostly untillable, but there is a good bit of cropland down there. Wheat, oats, barley, corn, some beans but not much. The grains are harvested now and the fields have that "two-day beard" look of tawny stubble. One day I go down to town and the fields are rich and waving with golden grain; a day or so later and they are clipped short, waiting for the tractors to turn them for the next crop.

Gobble-squabble

Big commotion out behind my target backstop the other day. I looked out the front door in time to see the thrashing and flailing of a turkey wing in the high weeds. At first I thought that maybe a coyote had gotten among the hen and her poults and grabbed a rifle to go out and see. (I know: it's "nature's way" and there's no point in inserting oneself. But I'm a part of nature, too— and I'm on the turkey's side.)

But before I got off the porch I saw that it was just a squabble between two hens. I put the rifle away and sneaked down with a camera to see if I could get a few frames. They sensed me and melted away into the very high weeds (five to six feet high in places). I snugged myself into a spot against a cottonwood and waited.

Occasionally a poult would raise up his ugly little periscopy head, take a peek around, and then down-scope into the weeds. The other hen seemed to have disappeared, but mom was in and out of the weeds a number of times. She seemed aware of my presence, but never got alarmed about it. I got a number of fairly decent pictures, but mainly I was just happy to see that all was well. Even managed to sneak back up to the house without disturbing her.

And yesterday morning, right at dawn, the whole brood was out in front of the porch prancing around and looking for a nice breakfast of tasty bugs. I was very pleased to see that all six poults are still with her.

Constant visitor

I guess I shouldn't call him a "visitor" since he seems to have settled in. The mulies are still off on the prairie nursing their new fawns. They'll show up here in a week or so, as they usually do, bringing the little spotted ones with them of course. Meanwhile, this young whitetail buck has been enjoying the run of the place. This morning I went out to make a couple of pictures of him in the high grass just on the other side of the driveway. He watched me for a while and then took off for the high stuff. But before I was even back in the house he was back and walking across the front of my shooting range like he owned the place. Drove Emma nuts.

Watch where you step

I'm overrun with tiny toads! Woodhouse's toad (bufo woodhousii woodhousii) has apparently... spawned, whelped, littered, toaded, or whatever the term is. I saw the first one in the garden a day or two ago. It was about 1/3" long and could have been completely covered with a dime. It was hopping around my tomato plants. Today I found this one by the porch. It's about 3/4" in length. The cartridge is a .45ACP of course.

I really like having the toads around, as they are a good indicator of a healthy environment. They are also excellent insect-gobblers. But they are hopping around in sufficient numbers that I do have to watch where I step.

Mr. Antelope

Had to go to town yesterday to visit the dentist and saw this citizen on the way back. I was able to roll down the off-driver window while still moving, get the shot set up, and then punch the brakes. He was off in a flash. They generally will hold their ground if you keep moving, but if you stop they are gone. If I had to get out there would have been no picture.

He's a pretty nice one, but there is a much larger fellow in the neighborhood that has so far eluded me.

Clouds at sunset

Lovely clouds last night, right at sunset. The sky on the High Plains is an ever-changing panorama. I never get tired of it.

Parade! Parade!

I was working at my desk in the office when I happened to look out the window and saw this turkey hen and her poults marching up my driveway. I've seen them around for several days now but have been unable to get a decent picture of them. There are actually six poults but one was lagging too far behind to get in this frame.

The poults were running around grabbing grasshoppers, to which they are more than welcome.

Silly pelicans!

They are still hanging around over on the "shortcut" ponds. They look downright ridiculous when they are earthbound but they sure can fly gracefully.

The hills are lush

Lately I'm doing too much traveling. Can't be helped, but I've been "off ranch" three times in the last three days. But I insist on making lemonade: there are always things to see and things to photograph.

Coming back from "mail town" after a meeting the other night I was impressed by the abundance of grass on our plains this time of year. Last year the continuation of the drought had us burned down almost to the dirt. But this year the rains have given us waist high grass and plenty of it.

Ranchers are just "grass farmers" that use cows as combines. Could be a good year.