
I will not say where,
but offer a photograph
of three before rut
rattling branches
of brittle Manzanita
to harden their horns.

I will not say where,
but offer a photograph
of three before rut
rattling branches
of brittle Manzanita
to harden their horns.
Posted in Haiku 2021, Photographs, Poems 2021, Ranch Journal

Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal

Behind the smoke, the KNP Complex, last Thursday’s lightning strikes that sparked the Colony and Paradise Fires in Sequoia National Park threaten both the Giant Sequoias and the community of Three Rivers. #tularecountysheriff https://news.yahoo.com/knp-complex-fire-threatening-sequoia-220907319.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall
Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal
Tagged Evacuations, Giant Sequoias, KNP Complex, Three Rivers, wildfires

After the lightning
igniting fires, after the storm,
a new day dawns
with hope
and a hint of change
from the blistering summer heat
with the equinox knocking
at the door, I think
of all the jobs earmarked
for years—our growing list
of work we’ve saved
for rainy days.
The prognosticators
are unusually quiet,
don’t dare say
when to expect a rain.
I keep adding to a list
that will outlive me.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2021, Ranch Journal
Tagged clouds, dawn, fires, lightning, rainy day jobs
Posted in Haiku 2021, Photographs
Tagged constriction, Gopher Snake, ground squirrel, haiku

Out of the blue
the space between us
rings like a bell
as I become
a curious diversion
for two young bucks
oblivious to the perils
of the outside world
swirling around us all.
How I envy such innocence,
rejuvenated for a moment—
yet I lay down to look
through dry stems of feed,
my horns lost in branches,
almost unseen.

It’s not often that you see two different species of hawks in such close proximity to one another, calmly waiting on the edge of a water trough. But this morning while feeding the horses, they let me get close enough to use my ‘point and shoot’. I defer to the birders, but it looks to me like a Red Tail on the left and a Harrier Hawk on the right.