In the darkness, I listen to a light strum
upon the roof, visualize the size
of raindrops, calculate the hours
necessary to quench the earth’s thirst
for a week or two before going back
to dream of hillsides too wet to climb,
cattle fat come May – nothing I can do,
but hope and pray for some release.
Sucked dry, we still hold on to a chance
for a verdant spring, grass bellyhigh
and sprinkled with wild colors
from all the old seeds waiting to bloom.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015
Tagged Calves, cows, Drought, Dry Creek, photographs, poetry, rain, weather, wildflowers
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs, Poems 2015
Tagged haiku, Lone Pine CA, photographs, poetry, weekly-photo-challenge
The wildflowers were trying to bloom before we left for Elko on January 24th, primarily the ubiquitous Fiddleneck and Shepherd’s Purse, but yesterday as Robbin and I went to the Paregien Ranch, we could add Foothill Poppies, Purple Lupine, White-veined Mallow, Popcorn Flowers, Scorpionweed among others—all 30 days earlier than normal that may indicate an early, and perhaps short, spring, especially with record breaking temperatures in the high-70s the past two days.
As we enter what appears to be our fourth drought year with only 5.47” of rain to date, it could be worse. Last year at this time we had only accumulated 1.6”, a year in which we had to feed hay from August through March with a total rainfall for the season of 7.78”. Our 9-year average, including the last three dry years, is 14.36”.
Fortunately, some rain is predicted for this evening and Saturday that may linger into Sunday. Our south slopes have been stressed for the past three years, showing mostly brown with no cover of old feed to hold moisture or offer protection for the new grasses.
Additionally, there is little snow in the Sierras to supply surface water demands from Valley farmers. Water storage in flood control and irrigation facilities is at an all-time low. Half-way through our rainy season, it’s too late for any snow the Sierras might receive to freeze, thus we have lost any time-released benefits farmers might ordinarily enjoy, leaving us more susceptible to spring floods if the Sierras get any amount of snow for the remainder of the season.
No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t look good.
Fiddleneck wilting – 2/5/2015
Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal
Tagged Drought, Dry Creek, flower-friday, Greasy Creek, Paregien Ranch, photographs, rain, weather, wildflowers
Following fifty tons
through light showers
across Nevada,
big alfalfa bales
towards our dry
California home,
we focus on raindrops
streaking reality
after a week of poetry
and song, to feel
our poor possibilities
grow by the truckload—
heavy with an endless
emptiness in our bellies
beneath the straps
of seat belts
before another wreck.
We hang on.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015, Ranch Journal
Tagged alfalfa hay, Drought, National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Nevada, photographs, poetry, rain, weather
With a leisurely, late start from Elko, we encountered a few midday showers Monday, crossing Nevada’s Great Basin between Carlin and Tonopah, making for some interesting high-speed photos with the point and shoot.
Under a dark cloud outside Eureka, a blurry foreground beneath a crisp Lone Mountain on the ‘Lonliest Road in America’ (US 50).
Hay headed to dry California.
We stopped for a bowl of soup at the refurbished and reopened Mizpah in Tonopah,
then headed into to the sunset towards Bishop.
Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal
Tagged Drought, Great Basin, National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Nevada, photographs, rain, Tonopah, weather
Purple Penstemon – May 5, 2011
After a week of celebrating,
song and poetry
sound the same.
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs
Tagged Greasy Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, Purple Penstemon, wildflowers
Bird’s Eye Gilla – April 11, 2011
Sometimes mindless creatures
of habit in bloom,
never sure who’s got whom.
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs
Tagged Bird's Eye Gilla, haiku, photographs, poetry, wildflowers
Blow Wives – April 6, 2013
Spreading seed on wider wings,
Dandelion
by any other name.
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs
Tagged Blow Wives, Dry Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, wildflowers
Johnny Tuck – March 31, 2013
I can show up anywhere
yet never certain who
I want to be.
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs
Tagged Dry Creek, haiku, Johnny Tuck, photographs, poetry, wildflowers
Not wind through willow limbs that sing of rooted past,
but our first tunes, drummed upon catgut strings, cast
beyond early stirrings searching words to fit a melody
of earthly work, we find a moment’s worth of immortality.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015
Tagged Cowboy Celtic, Cowboy Poetry, National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, photographs, poetry
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