How Many Days???

Raccoon napping in the crotch of a tree 
photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

It's February and I guess that's a good thing right?  Closer to Spring!!!  I don't mind February so much...its the shortest month of the winter and still looks like winter.  Now March looks like a mixed up month!  Sometimes like winter...sometimes like spring - usually all goofed up and a sloppy mess!

Had a Big old Raccoon in the gate tree this a.m. When Georgie first spotted it, it was rolled up in a ball on a fork in the tree but with the snow turning to a freezing mist it decided to try a nearby hole. The hole it tried hiding in was apparently too small as it kept coming back out to reposition itself...kept hiding when I'd take the camera outside but later showed up napping in another crotch outside.

I know it knows I'm there trying to take its picture, but I just settle for a nap shot and head back inside...hoping it'll stir for the camera yet...

 

Red-tailed Hawk pair hunting in tandem

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

February is a time when many birds of prey begin getting serious...seems early but the Great Horned Owls already have eggs they're sitting on and the Bald Eagles are setting up shop too.  Another local favorite of ours - the Red-tailed Hawks, have been known to set up nesting late in the winter...we had a pair here hunting together behind the barn.  Sometimes one bird would sit and watch while the other dipped around in the pasture trying to stir something up and other times they'd fly together and swoop into the grasses...don't know what they had going there?   Maybe a rabbit sitting tight or a mouse...who knows?

Red-tailed Hawk - close fly-by

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Its fun watching things begin to stir since the frigid air has left its mark everywhere...kind of has me stirring myself!

How many days till spring??!!!!!

Mid Winter at the Studio

"Late Morning Sun Dogs"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison 

A little winter action here at the studio this morning - I would have missed this brilliant late morning display if I hadn't walked over to the house to check on something.  On my walk back I was faced with a nearly full circle light display!  I ran inside and grabbed the camera and this was the first image I took - the right side was dropping out and after the first shot it was gone!  Things can be fleeting! 

Most of us wish winter were fleeting too but I feel less like being outside during this frigid weather and that can mean I get something done inside!  Or something like that?!

Stay warm!!!

 

Short Break from Spring

"Old JD Hay Rake"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

We woke up yesterday morning to winter again.  April can have surprises; I remember a few from some years back, and last year it even snowed in May!  We got around a half a foot yesterday though, and it is most welcome here!  (We've been so dry since last summer.)

As soon as I got the lane up to the house and studio cleared, I went out and shot a few photos .  I don't like photographing snow under overcast skies, because of the visual "flatness" of the snow...its just too dull.  But I picked a more graphic subject and went from there.

I picked on the old John Deere Hay Rake that sits on the upper slope of our south pasture, near the old sheep barn.  The image above is somewhat understated, but its growing on me.  

Wonder if this will be my last winter photograph until the 2014-15 season?  I kind of hope so - let the short break from spring end and get onto some real springtime weather! 

Don't think I'm alone on that note!

Happy New Year 2013!!!

 Winter in the prairie pasture here!

(photograph © Bruce A. Morrison)

2013!  Time flies when you're having fun!  Winter has finally arrived on the acreage here and it is beautiful and cold!  The photograph at the blog head is of our north pasture just 3 days ago.  Since it was a bit breezy, I took mostly video footage.  The video is embedded here so you can take a short walk, enjoy the sparkling frost and snow covering the prairie plants and grasses - and not even catch a chill! (I'd recommend enlarging the screen or going directly to the You Tube link for a great view!)

If you subscribe to this blog via e-mail, the embedded link may not show.  If that's the case just click on the following link -

http://youtu.be/OPdT8r2aA70

Happy 2013 to you and your loved ones out there, all our best in this New Year!!!

Pioneer?

Bison near the Prairie Heritage Center

Would I have ever made it as a pioneer 150 years ago? I'm not convinced.

Now, I would have really liked to have seen the tallgrass prairie before the plains were explored or settled by non-native Americans! It must have been an amazing sight to behold...an incredible world of flora and fauna!

I watched a program the other night on PBS...it was about the Donner Party. Well, I knew where that would lead and I wasn't sure I was up to it. But against my better judgment went ahead and watched. It was such an incredibly horrific tale, but also one of cues not followed...advise not heeded...many mistakes leading to an unbearable winter under several feet of never ending snow!

I know what we've been having is not bad at all compared to that story. We are only past the 50 inch mark for this winter...by a few inches at least. This winter makes one wonder though, we have so much snow to remove and I'd been getting along just fine with a 27" 8 hp snow blower, however two days ago it broke down. The blower's 10 years old so I guess it's due, doesn't make it easier to cope with though.

We tried a fix yesterday, didn't work...we tried a couple more ways to fix today...didn't work. Going to have to haul it to town I guess.

We shoveled out the lane, the turn-arounds, and the parking spots today. I spent some time (while shoveling) pondering what this could be compared to and came up with the thought that we had (if we still lived in town) shoveled out 7 neighbor's drive ways and sidewalks...by hand. I think I have all the incentive now that I need to get the old blower to town for repair!

What did the pioneers do? They shoveled by hand if they had to move snow...that simple. Guess I'll stop whining and just be grateful!

Bison don't let the snow slow them down either...they dig through it and find what's underneath...ask cows to do that and you have dead cows...don't have the wild instinct to survive without us pandering to them.

The Bison in the heading photo is one of the cows (female Bison) at the Prairie Heritage Center south of here. They seem to be taking winter in stride just fine. Hmmm..of course they don't have a driveway to clear out either! I kept the far farmstead in view with the Bison; I thought it was a good juxtaposition comparing the new world of the prairie with the symbol of the once wild prairie.

Speaking of the Prairie Heritage Center, you might want to put them on your blog radar...they now have their own blog going...great to see!

Other good friends, Bev and Dwight Rutter of The Prairie Flower, also have a new blog going!

Winter and loads of snow...a good time to blog don't you think?!

It's Winter...unofficially

Male Downy Woodpecker

Well it may not be the solstice yet but it's now winter. A good old blizzard with lots of snow brought it on fast and has us drifted in today. It usually seems that once we get frigid temps and a good snow covering, we're in it for the long haul.

As I sit in the studio pondering some scheduling changes I have to make because of the weather, I'm distracted in a fun way by the birds outside contending with the new landscape. One familiar favorite is the Downy Woodpecker; they seem to be the most plentiful and tolerant of people approaching them.

Downys look just like Hairy Woodpeckers, except in miniature (about a 3" difference). The only way to delineate the sexes is by the male's splash of red on the backs of their heads (same for Hairys).

Female Downy Woodpecker

I had a male and female pose for me this morning so I'll post them here.

I'm mustering up the will to crank up the snow blower and attack our hillside 200 foot driveway...but think the wind needs to die back some yet before I do. Guess there are sacrifices for living out in the middle of the tallgrass - especially in the winter! But, hey, I think I'll just stay distracted with woodpeckers for the time being!