Monthly Archives: March 2015

AFTER RAIN 2

Posted on March 31, 2015 by John | 8 comments

Dawn’s soft light steaming,
rain’s last embrace still clinging,
love spent overnight.

photo_challenge/ephemeral

8 Comments

Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs, Poems 2015

Tagged dawn, Drought, Dry Creek, rain, weather, weekly-photo-challenge

APRIL FOOLS

Posted on March 31, 2015 by John | 7 comments

We have come the long way,
rode uneven ground together
ever since that first day

bringing cattle off the mountain,
you there, at the corrals:
Craig’s branding at the cabin.

I could only see pieces of you
busy outside, between the boards,
as we parted cows from calves.

Or was it when he died young,
all consoling one another?
Perhaps the Belle Point cows,

my mixed and colored herd,
fat calves grazing spring,
let you let me touch your hand.

We were friends a long time
before our pillow talk of trust
and honesty, before all this

circling home and horse barn,
our ever-changing garden,
black first-calf heifers at the fence

looking in as we look out
at what we’ve done as one
the long way ‘round.

7 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015, Ranch Journal

Tagged April Fools, Belle Point, Belle Point cows, crows

Killdeer Nesting

Posted on March 30, 2015 by John | 5 comments

Not far from the Roadrunner’s cactus nest, a Killdeer is also sitting on eggs. The shoulder of our gravel driveway usually offers three or four Killdeer a good place to hide and incubate their eggs. To keep from running over them, we’ve been known to place a rock close to the nest. Once hatched, the Killdeer takes her babies to the creek about 200 yards away. But barely running this year and last, we’ve only this one Killdeer nesting.

I had hoped to get photos of her broken wing act, her ploy to lure the dogs away. But she stood her ground yesterday to protect her nest.

5 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal

Tagged birds, Dry Creek, Killdeer, Nesting, wildlife

Roadrunner Nesting

Posted on March 29, 2015 by John | 7 comments

I caught a Roadrunner on the way to the nest early yesterday morning with the point and shoot. By late evening, I saw a gopher snake exiting the cactus. I’ll check again today to see if the snake got the eggs.

(assuming) ‘She’ is back on the nest this a.m., (assuming) the gopher snake left empty-(handed).

March 29, 2015

7 Comments

Posted in Photographs

HUNTER

Posted on March 28, 2015 by John | 8 comments

Not too old to hunt,
it is my eyes that crave
the grace of wild things,

that tell the boy inside
to take another look,
focus while he can.

I have tracked, squeezed
the trigger, gutted, skinned
and hung the flesh

over flames, told the stories
within these mountains
where I became a man

who hunts for pleasure,
for sign each day—
for what he’s never seen.

for Matt St. Martin

8 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015

Mule Ears

Posted on March 27, 2015 by John | Leave a comment

Wyethia angustifolia – March 18, 2015

Drought: Blue Oaks

Posted on March 26, 2015 by John | 3 comments

March 24, 2015

The impact of three years of drought on the Blue Oaks shows up well as the trees that have survived begin to leaf out. (Click to enlarge) These Blue Oaks are across the creek from our house, on a north slope at the 1,200-foot elevation. No rain in sight, the grass has turned 30 days earlier than normal as we prepare to head into an early summer.

3 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal

Tagged Blue Oak, Drought, Dry Creek, photographs, water, weather

Eurasian Collared Dove

Posted on March 25, 2015 by John | 7 comments

After a brief visit last spring, our count of Eurasian Collared Doves increased to four yesterday, including what appears (above) to be a juvenile, in just a matter of weeks. In order of appearance, the first pair began breeding and nest building almost immediately, followed by another male, then yesterday’s juvenile.

Pretty birds bigger than a Mourning Dove and slightly smaller than a Rock Pigeon, we’re not sure their presence is a blessing. Time will tell whether the most invasive species in Texas will become as big a nuisance as the Rock Pigeons, who thankfully disappeared last fall as their numbers dwindled through the summer.

The Collared Dove makes what has become an annoying two-syllable cooing sound just before it lands in a tree or on the ground where it feeds, that I can only describe as a distant baby crying, like the 1950s dolls that cried when you tipped them. Wiki notes that the species is ‘not wary’, that has connotations of stupidity for me, but I’d agree they’re fairly tame and unafraid, but observant enough to find our bird feeders immediately. The bird has many unique and interesting characteristics described in the links included here.

All About Birds