Around The Border and Along The Edges

I decided to take a little trip around the border and along the edges of our backyard this afternoon to see what I might find there. Here are a few of the things that I discovered and observed...

New England Asters Growing Along the Back Fencerow

Late Boneset Growing Along the Edge of the Grapevines

An Empty Snail Shell

A Lovely Shelf Fungus Growing on a Dead Branch

More Fungi and Lichen Growing on Another Branch

A Pecan

A Large Fungus Growing Out of an Old Stump

A Wooly-Worm Making His Way Along the Edge of the North Shed

A Live Snail Inching His Way Along Not Too Far Behind the Wooly-worm

Tiny Brown Mushrooms Growing Behind the North Shed

These are just a few of the things that I discovered and observed on my walk around the border and along the edges of our backyard today. What can be found around and along yours?

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Sunday Morning Musings

It's early Sunday morning. In fact, it's still dark. I woke up on my own a full two hours before the alarm was set to go off. 

It's a heavenly 56 degrees right now and all the windows are full open. I have a cup of hot tea, ready to enjoy, and am wishing that I had a can of pumpkin to turn into muffins for breakfast, but I don't, so that will have to wait until another day. Either way, I'm content. It's autumn! 🍁

My mind is trying it's best to jump ahead and think of all the things that need to be done this week. It's going to be a busy one, for sure, but, as I keep telling myself, there's plenty of time for all that later. Right now, I just want to relish these first early morning hours of the first Sunday in a new season. 

As I type this, male crickets chirp merrily among the marigolds along the front edge of the porch and a few early-rising birds begin their morning twitter as they awake to a brand new day.

I open the curtain on my west-facing office window. As the minutes pass, the sky changes from black-of-night to early-morning-gray. Objects that, just moments ago, were hidden in a shroud of darkness come into focus as the sun's first rays are cast from somewhere far away on the eastern horizon. Suddenly a shaft of rosy light shoots forth directly and the very top of the neighbor's utility pole is bathed in first morning light. It shines, briefly, then is swallowed up again in subdued gray. The western sky is streaked with light and clouds and a mourning dove coos in the distance. 

As I continue to type, the sun continues to rise in the eastern sky. Here in the valley we remain in morning shadow, but, suddenly, the neighbor's place just to our west is bathed in first-morning-light. Sunlight spills across the fields beyond and I hear the distinct hum of hummingbird wings as they begin their daily back-and-forth pilgrimage to the feeder on our front porch. 

As the sun climbs higher in the eastern sky, it spills more and more of its brilliant light across the fields across the way. I hear a woodpecker drilling into a distant tree trunk in search of breakfast and the first train of the morning rumbles down the track towards town. It blows it's whistle as it approaches. I look at my watch and find that it's time to start getting ready for church. 

What a beautiful morning this first Sunday morning of autumn is turning out to be here in southwest Missouri! Thank you for allowing me to spend a bit of it with you.

Until next time...
~Rebecca

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Early Morning on the Tallgrass Prairie

As summer fades into fall, there's nothing quite like an early morning excursion out on the tallgrass prairie. In fact, it's a completely different world.

As warm days give way to cool nights a misty veil of morning fog hangs over the whole of the prairie landscape.

As morning sunlight spills over the tall grasses they sparkle and shine as though some overly-industrious fairy had come in the night, sprinkling the whole of the prairie with glittering diamond dust... 

...and every cobweb looks as though it has been strung, laced, and outlined with beautiful, glittering diamonds.

When visiting the tallgrass prairie early in the morning...especially at this time of year...it's easy to see just how many spiders there really are living in North America's tall grasses (an estimated 2 1/2 million individuals per acre) and their glistening gossamer webs are spectacular! 🕸

As the sun rises a little higher in the morning sky, the fog quickly fades and the dewy cobwebs begin to dry.

Soon the late-summer sun is out in full force. The temperature rises and the morning magic is over. The wildflowers, who just moments ago were taking a backseat to the sparkle and shine of diamond dust, are left standing, straight and tall, to endure another happy day on a sun-soaked tallgrass prairie landscape.

Until next time...
~Rebecca

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Modern Day Cowgirls (Well, Sort Of)

I don't get to do it very often, but, Saturday, Katy (the park manager) asked me if I'd like to help her with the bison. I said, "Sure!"

Katy and I Doing the Work of Modern Day Cowgirls

I won't go into all the hows and whys of it, but, in a nutshell, what we were doing is a daily training exercise to get the bison used to being where we need for them to be at Jubilee.

A Little Blurry, But I Love The Action

I, not only helped on Saturday, but was able to go back out on Sunday morning for a repeat performance. Here are a few of the pictures that I took along the way...

"Hya! Hya! Hya! Hya! Hya! Come on now!"

Awww! Look at this sweet girl! Isn't she pretty? 💗

What magnificent and majestic animals! 

Another Sweet Girl

Look this is a big ol' boy! Isn't he a handsome brute? 💗

It was a lot of fun helping in this capacity and it made Katy and I feel like real cowgirls (well...sort of anyway). 🤠

Now (here's where I get bossy)...

A WORD OF WARNING 

If you're ever at Prairie State Park (or anywhere else that has a bison) do NOT get this close to them. 

American bison are wild animals that can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds and can run up to 35 miles per hour. There is no way for a human being to outrun one. 

What Katy and I were doing here was part of our job. Enjoyable? Yes! But definitely not without risk and danger involved. 

Again...never EVER get this close to the bison at Prairie State Park (or anywhere else) on your own or just because. The risk is not worth it!

Also, NEVER take four-wheelers out on the trails at Prairie State Park. Again...part of our job and not the norm. 

While I enjoy sharing my pictures and experiences with you, I would not want to be the inspiration for you to do something that would cause you to get into trouble, get hurt, or worse. That's why I'm including this strong warning as part of this post. 

Until next time...
~Rebecca

Prairie Jubilee
Saturday, September 29, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Come join us for the fun!

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As the waning days of summer come near to a close, the promise of autumn looms large over the tallgrass prairie of southwest Missouri. The crickets have upped their chirping as cooler temperatures prevail and the prairie is awash with late-summer- and autumn-blooming wildflowers. After I got off work, yesterday, my husband and I decided to hike Drover's Trail at Prairie State Park. Here are a few of the things that we witnessed along the way:

Blue Sage

Native Thistle
(My favorite wildflower.💗)

A Bumble Bee Pollinating Native Thistle

Bur Marigold With Goldenrod Beyond

Of course, John and I had to pause
for a selfie along the way! 😆

Bur Marigold Along Trail's Edge

Prairie Aster

Showy Goldenrod

Tall Goldenrod

A Buffalo Wallow Full of Water

It had been a while since we had seen one of these with water in it. Watering-holes are few and far between on the prairie. When it's dry, smaller animals, such as coyote, fox, deer, and bobcat, as well as other animals (birds, reptiles, and, even, insects), sometimes, have to travel long distances to obtain water. These buffalo wallows can be found all over the prairie and, during rainy seasons, provide water sources to smaller wildlife without them having to travel long distances to find a creek, pond, or some other source.

Pollen-Producing Yellow Stamens On Indian Grass

Rough Blazing-Star Against a Backdrop of Sumac

Brown Mushrooms Growing Along The Edge
 of a Bison Chip in the Middle of the Trail

Goldenrod, Bur Marigold, and Tall Grasses

Can you spot the photo-bomber in this picture?

A Lone Bull Out On The Prairie


Shortly after I took this picture (which I didn't realize he was in, until after we got home), I told John that I saw one of these shaggy, brown-backed beasts up ahead moving east. It was a lone bull and I assumed that he was following the service road (and would follow it) to the fence where Drover's and Sandstone meet, then turn to join the rest of the herd which we had already spotted down that way, so I wasn't too concerned. 

Cropped From the Previous Photo

The next time I caught sight of the beast, I realized that he was coming down the same trail that we were on and that he was coming towards us. By that time, he was close...only a turn of the trail ahead of us. It was too late to retreat back down the trail, so I grabbed John by the hand and said, "Let's go this way!" Off-trail we went and, let me tell you, we did some high-stepping! We didn't run (NEVER RUN IF YOU ENCOUNTER A BISON ON THE TRAILS), but we did retreat as quickly as we could to put as much distance between us and the bull as we could before he acknowledged our presence. We were still only about 25 to 30 yards away from him, when he stopped and turned his massive head to stare at us. We briefly met his gaze, then continued our retreat. Every once in a while we would look back to see that he was still watching us. On the fourth turn of my head, I saw that he had turned off-trail in the opposite direction and was headed towards the rest of the herd. He stopped briefly, once more, to turn and look at us, then trotted off. At that point, John and I turned to head back to the trail. Hooking into a deer trail, we followed it until it eventually crossed the main trail, setting us back on course. We finished our hike without further incident and came home with only minor cuts and scratches from our encounter with blackberries off-trail and NO TICKS, for which we were very thankful! 😄 All in all it was a great hike with the beauty of God's magnificent creation all around us and even a little adventure thrown in!

The Road Home

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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After leading a hike out on the the prairie, I often tell visitors that, before we end our hike, I have just a couple of more things that I'd like to share with them. 

I explain that, while it's easy to see the big things out on the prairie...the grasses, the flowers, the bison...there is a lot of nature taking place right there at the nature center that people often miss. 

Then I proceed to take them on a little tour of some of my favorite things...

It might be a garden spider, like this one. I discovered this garden spider under the eaves of the back porch on the north side of the building. A couple of years ago we had a garden spider that had made its web under the eaves of the front porch, and we watched that spider all summer long and into the fall. She didn't survive the first cold spell, but she did leave gifts. Four of them, in fact! Our resident garden spider left four, big, round egg sacs to ensure that her beautiful black and yellow species would continue. Perhaps this spider is one of her grandchildren. 

This nest sits above the door on the north side of the building and it belongs to a phoebe. Every year mother phoebe returns to the same place to lay her eggs and raise her little brood.

This den belongs to our resident armadillo. It is well-concealed within our wildflower garden.

This nest belongs to a swallow. Every year the swallows return and reuse (or rebuild) the
four nests that are found, one on each of the outside walls, of the nature center. This one is on the front side of the nature center facing west.

And this one is on the south side. This is the deepest swallow nest I've ever seen.

This nest belongs to a paper wasp. Several of these nests can be found up under the eaves on the east side of the nature center.

I found this spider web on the ceiling of the front porch of the nature center. I'm not sure what kind of spider made it, but it sure has an interesting shape! 

This nest was built by robins in the spring. We watched the mother robin sit on her three, tiny, blue eggs until they hatched. Then we observed the parent robins feed and take care of their three robin babies, until they were old enough to fly away and be on their own.

These are just a few signs of the many kinds of wildlife that live life on, or very near, the nature center at Prairie State Park and it just proves that wildlife is everywhere!

What about you? What kind of wild life lives on the edges of your home or place of business?

Until next time...
~Rebecca

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