Hide and Seek - Pasture Version

A date to the pasture may not be wine and roses. Instead, it's wildflowers and a gulp from a dirty water jug.

And that's OK. I prefer it that way.

I was glad to check out this season's latest blooms in nature's flower shoppe. (I added the extra "p" and the "e" to make it fancy - even with a little mud on my jeans.)

An overcast morning made the yellow cone flowers and the purple woolly verbena seem even brighter against a muddled blue sky. 

The insects really liked the flowers, too, though I didn't realize it until I was back at my computer, looking at the photos.

We weren't at the pasture just to enjoy the scenery, though that was definitely a perk. Since we'd gotten rained out of wheat harvest again, we needed to check the mamas, babies and bulls at their summer "vacation spot" - the Ninnescah pasture.

You can barely see the water down in the draw. Click on any of the photos to make their bigger.

Honestly, I was starting to get a little nervous during our pasture promenade. We were certainly seeing a lot of pretty scenery. But we weren't seeing the cattle. I know the Bible tells me not to worry, but I also know that I'm an unfinished work in that particular area.

 

My thoughts were swirling with as much velocity as the wind racing past us on the 4-wheeler:

What if they got out?

What if they were stolen? 

The only "livestock" we were seeing were birds in the air and perched on top of fence posts.

We were hearing the rush of water at the dam ... but no mama cows calling to their babies.

 

By the time we reached the far end of the pasture, I could hardly enjoy the beautiful vista as we looked back to the north. 

"Aren't you getting nervous?" I asked Randy.
"No, not yet," he replied. "There are plenty of places to hide."

Yes, there were.

At first, they were barely discernible in the dark shadows under the trees.

Just like we humans, they were seeking a little summer relief under the shade trees.

With the rain nourishing the prairie grasses, the mamas and babies are looking sleek and well fed. The bulls were hanging out with them, too. All was well! We just had to play the farmer's version of hide and seek to find them.

I enjoyed the trip back to the pickup even more because I left my worry behind - right under those trees with the cattle.

And there's a lesson there, I suppose. If I don't let go of the worry, I can never really be present and joyful in the moment, can I?

Since the cattle were where they were supposed to be, we went to Hutchinson for a movie and supper. But on the way home, we had a detour to a big old cottonwood that Randy wanted to show me. It was during the golden hour, when the setting sun is casting beautiful light everywhere it touches.

It's less than a mile off the road we usually take to Hutchinson. It's so big I couldn't get it all in the photo frame and it dwarfed my 6'1"-tall farmer.

So our date ended where it started - on the back roads of Kansas. This time, however, we were in a car instead of on a 4-wheeler.

***

This excursion happened a week ago, June 24. This morning, skies are again overcast. We've got our fingers crossed that the rain will bypass us for a few days so our Wheat Harvest 2016 can continue.