On the Banks of Peace Creek

Laura Ingalls Wilder may have lived on the banks of Plum Creek, but she's not the only prairie girl who finds beauty along a creek bed.

Rains have greened the landscape of our part of the world. We got another 0.40" of rain overnight, bringing our total for the past week or so up to 5.90." At the danger of sounding like the never-satisfied-with-the-weather farmer, we'd really like to start banking a little of that moisture for the dog days of August in Kansas. But that's not the way it works, so I might as well enjoy the beauty all the rain has brought to our little part of the world.

For one, it gave me the opportunity to complete my own version of "The Four Seasons." No, I'm not starting a Motown group or rewriting a classical symphony. I've been trying to capture the four seasons from a bridge over Peace Creek on 4th Street. I've been waiting for a day with beautiful clouds to go along with the green landscape. I found it on the way home from Hutchinson last Thursday evening.

Here's a shot from this winter.

 

Here, the landscape is painted with the goldenrod of fall ...

... and here's a pastoral scene from August.

(I'm never satisfied. I need to broaden the summer view to make it look more similar to the others. But summer is coming, so I'll get another chance.)

Yesterday morning, the sun peeked out from the clouds for a little while, so I drove down to the bridge at the Peace Creek pasture, where we feed cattle during the winter.

The water was up there, too, after all the rains.

This location has been the site for plenty of photos through the years, too, but I don't know that it has ever looked more vibrant.

No matter whether I looked to the west toward our pasture ...

... or to the east, as Peace Creek flowed through a neighbor's pasture, the beauty was undeniable. Yes, all the rain may keep us from completing all the tasks that are on the mental list, but it's hard to complain about moisture after years of drought.

Lyle, Kathy & Randy

Randy took the opportunity to travel yesterday with his sister and her two girls to visit his brother. I got this photo on my phone last night. I stayed home to go to doctor's appointments and meetings that were scheduled long before the last-minute trip. But I wish I was with them to go to Mount Rushmore today. I'll just have to be satisfied with my view from the banks of Peace Creek.

Snowflakes & Seasons

Taken Saturday afternoon

A Time to Think

The wonder of a single snowflake outweighs
 the wisdom of a million meteorologists.
–Sir Francis Bacon, philosopher

When I say "the four seasons," some may think of a singing group and others about a famous hotel. But I think about Kansas. The weekend's snow gave me a chance to capture the beauty of the winter season at Peace Creek.

The snow provided some Andrew Wyeth-painting-worthy scenes as we went to check cattle Saturday after lunch. Even though we didn't get the deluge of snow that the meteorologists were predicting, it gave me the chance to add to my four seasons photo portfolios.

As I posted last month, I added a snow scene to one of my favorite Manhattan locations. But, upon reflection, I realized I probably had more local four seasons shots in the literally thousands of photos I have on the computer.

In this Peace Creek montage, I am again one season short of the "full house" or, in this case, a full "creek." (For locals, this is the view from the bridge at 4th Street Road,  just east of the county line.)

To my winter scenes from the weekend ...

These two were taken late afternoon on Sunday.

 I can add the goldenrod-framed shot from the fall ...

... and a pastoral scene from August for my summer scene.

Spring is coming, even though it doesn't seem much like it after this weekend of snow and cold. And I'll be ready - in more ways than one!

Seasons Come and Seasons Go

Winter is an etching,

Spring a watercolor,

Summer an oil painting,

And fall, a mosaic of them all.

Stanley Horowitz 

There were probably some people who didn't appreciate the snow in northeast Kansas early this week. But the snow gave me a chance to add to a seasonal grouping that has been years in the making.

Frank Anneberg Park in Manhattan has a walking path that I enjoy using when I'm in the Little Apple. I already had several photos of a lonely bench on one of the walking trails. The spring version was taken in 2010, and I added the fall version in 2011. I've used both images for notecards.

I've always wanted a snow scape to add to the seasonal mix. When Randy went to Manhattan without me for meetings one winter, he attempted a photo. But his version was blurred. (There's a reason I am the official photographer for the family.)

While Randy was listening to research proposals for Kansas Wheat on Monday and Tuesday, I was getting my feet wet at Frank Anneberg Park. (I didn't plan ahead by bringing my snow boots.) I captured one image during the gloomy morning and one later in the day when the sun came out and the trees cast shadows on the snow.

But I think the wet socks and shoes were worth it. Now, I just need one more image to complete the four seasons vignette. I'm not sure of the timing for that fourth photo. Do I capture it in early spring bloom? Or do I wait until late summer? Time will tell.

I need to do the same thing with images a little closer to home. Maybe Peace Creek will be the setting for my next series of Seasons. Maybe it's the majestic cottonwood at the end of the driveway. If I do some digging, I probably already have most of those images hiding on the computer among the 40,000 or so photos. It's my own version of a treasure hunt.

Every season contains within it the potential for beauty, 

and we draw more of that beauty

 into our lives by our response to whichever season we're in.

Jamie C. Martin

Which one of the winter images do you like better - overcast or sunshine?

Turn, Turn, Turn!

There are lots of twists and turns between planting time and harvest.

A tale of two crops is playing out across the road. In one field, the wheat we've planted earlier in the month is having a good growth spurt after unseasonably warm temperatures this past weekend.

And another crop - the sudan - is being swathed. (For more on planting the sudan and why we use it for cattle feed, click on this link: TDN? BMR? It's Alphabet Soup!)

The guys had begun swathing the sudan before we got 3.20 inches of rain. The moisture was beneficial for the wheat crop, but it didn't help the sudan that was already swathed and left to dry and cure. We are definitely not complaining about the moisture. It just demonstrates the dichotomy that sometimes happens in crop production. What's good for one crop is not necessarily good for the other. But since wheat is our "bread" and butter (so to speak), we would much rather have good moisture for it.

On Monday, the guys were able to get started with the swathing again after a two-week hiatus. They finished it up yesterday afternoon.

The sudan was really leaning in the wind on Monday.

Can there be a "harvest" without a complication? The guys ended up having to change the teeth on the swather since it wasn't cutting through the thick stalks. (We had other complications when we swathed a neighbor's sudan this summer ... always an adventure.)

Now it's hurry up and wait. The sudan will take several days to cure before it can be baled. Then it will be ready to be served up for "dinner" for the cattle this winter.

I keep thinking about the Byrds' song, "Turn, Turn, Turn." There is a season for everything. And sometimes the planting and the harvest happen simultaneously on The County Line.