in the prairie, in the wind

walk into me

Cooper, smiling into the wind

movement

dew to frost

As my friends and family in Maine are slogging around this morning is a heavy wet snow, this delicate frost is what we woke up to. I love the small changes in each season.

once living

morning sun, osage orange

feeding the birds

During one of my days at Pioneers Park Nature Center, I had the opportunity to feed the raptors that live there. They are all disabled in some way and now live in an outdoor aviary on the grounds of the Nature Center. Because of their disabilities, they would not survive in the wild. That day, I defrosted something like 55 white mice to feed three red tails, two great horned owls, and one barred owl.  I took a picture of the defrosted mice to share, but decided to post a picture of my shadow holding the bowl of mice instead, in case you're squeamish. The great horned owls were my favorite -- they were curious and timid, but jumped on the mice once I left the aviary. Being so close to these birds was incredible -- they look like wise visitors from another planet. 

me holding bowl of mice

great horned owl

I did see a barred owl in the wild this morning at Wilderness Park in Lincoln. It swooped down from a tree, without a noise to a perch quite close to me. I watched it for a few minutes, its dark hollow eyes surveying me, before it disappeared in the early morning light. 

Here's a picture of the barred owl at the Nature Center. The staff calls him Elliott, which is my father-in-law's name. Elliott Sober (my father-in-law) is a professor, so I call this bird Professor Sober. 

barred owl

poems

merge with sunlight and air

My friend Ferris, a Nebraska native, has been urging me to read works by Loren Eiseley, a Lincoln born scientist and writer. He lent me a book containing an excerpt from Eiseley's The Immense Journey, titled "The Flow of the River." In this piece, Eiseley describes wading into the Platte river and floating, becoming the water, he writes, "It was then that I felt the cold needles of the alpine springs at my finger tips, and the warmth of the Gulf pulling me southward." Love it.

And these few sentences hit me in the stomach --

"Once in a lifetime, perhaps, one escapes the actual confines of the flesh. Once in a lifetime, if one is lucky, one so merges with sunlight and air and running water that whole eons, the eons that mountains and deserts know, might pass in a single afternoon without discomfort."

late season, big color

This is prairie gentian. I was out this morning at Nine Mile Prairie enjoying this warm October day. The air is so dry, the land has cracked open, and all the ponds in and around this stretch of prairie have vanished. You can see the water line on the cottonwoods, like a brush stroke that tells a lost story. 

blue jays

They are overbearing, yes, but take another look...

cause of death unknown & stick bug

On my walks in the park, I look for signs of life and death, reminding myself that we are all part of this earth for a short while. Thank the heavens above that we can exist together, if only for a second. This little guy (or gal) was resting peacefully at the trail's edge -- no blood, fully intact. My friend Ferris helped to identify it as a norther short tailed-shrew. Surprisingly, this tiny fuzz ball produces a venom in its saliva.   Look at its human-like front paws, like the hands of a wicked old grandmother from a long lost fairytale. See you on the other side, my friend. 

And, please!  Look at this stick bug. Have you ever???

Nuthatches

Nuthatches are FASTidious in real time. Everything changes when you slow things down. I want to live this way. Slow it down...

Nebraska Master Naturalist Program

With the help of some great folks in my class, I put this little video together. We had to do a group project and chose to make a promotional video that the program staff could use on their website to attract prospective students and possibly donors. Let's hope they use it! Enjoy...

And, here's a roll of bloopers. There are some real "pieces of work" in my class...me included. It's been fun and I've learned a lot about this state in middle America.  Looking back, I think it was the best way to meet folks who share my values in a state that for the most part may not.

deer tracks, wild honey locust tree

Moments

A nice gal in my class from Omaha, Maggi, snapped this shot of Aaron and Coop as they waited for me to get done with my work. I love this moment she captured -- I'm in it, though physically absent. 

traces

Where has this blog been hiding?  I'm guess I'm having a hard time finding my words right now, so I'll just share a few pictures. I've been doing a lot of walking in the woods, and as the leaves fall and shatter in the wind and the plants die back to endure the long winter, I've been hunting for signs of life.  They are everywhere, all the time. 

Cracks

It has been so dry here for days and days.  The air smells musky and the wind blows hot dirt in your face. My eyes are dry, my skin, my mouth. I am dreaming of how it smells in Maine.  The moist air off the water like a salt water taffy melting in your mouth. Sweet and salty. The best.

Just look at this dry Nebraskan earth cracking open, hungry for water.