Edible Flowers

 

While back I posted a photo of a yucca blossom.  I got the comment that it appeared very delicate.  I thought wow, what a contrast for the spikey dangerous plant.  The spikes of the yucca are tougher on the skin then the thorns of a rose bush.  Yet the yucca was revered by the plains Indian.

 

The yucca held lots of nutriments and utilities for the Indians.  The root was a source of vitamins for them but to much and it was a laxative.  The yuccas cussing name was soap weed and does make a decent cleaning compound.   The spikes are tough enough to be woven into sandals and baskets.  It could also be flayed and used like a tooth brush, using the ground root as tooth powder.

For many though, the yucca was an obnoxious plant.  Like many plants, if it is growing in the wrong place it is a weed.

Because of the root nutriments, buffalo would root the yuccas up and eat the roots.  Getting past the spikes is a challenge.  Calves have been known to up root yuccas to get at the roots.

Oh those spikes are nasty.  Have been spiked by them.  Leaves a nasty, blackish, purple gash in the flesh and does the blood flow.  Person needs good protective gear when working with them.  Have heard of some people planting them in the wells of their basement windows to keep intruders out. 

 

The Indians had another use for the yuccas.  They could make a pretty good hooch from the root.  Grind up some root, put it in a buffalo bladder, add water and let it ferment.  The Indian would take their buffalo bladder and bury it and a month or so later, they would have a mescal.  It was party time on the plains. 

Oh, the yucca is also the state flower of New Mexico.

Is There Oil Down There?

 

 

With the expanded use of fracing, there is a mini oil boom in the area.  Keep in mind, a drilling rig is a boom around here and there are usually 2-4 rigs drilling. 

The oil companies have been approaching people about going on their land for seismology testing,   Lots of the people have been turning them down, well been wanting money for them to drive on their land.

It is so dry that any travel on grassland destroys it.  The ranchers/landowners are wanting compensation fro damage to their land.

These big ole thumpers can cause lots of damage as they drive over the land shaking it.  Where they drove on some CRP land, one can still see the tracks where they drove, two years ago.  At existing wells thee is a big scar, for the plot and the access road.  If the hole is dry and they leave, the land heals real slow and is worthless for some years unless in a government program.

It is interesting, greed does overrule common business sense.  Some of the oil prospectors are kind of dumbfounded in being turned down.

For the rancher, it is his land for income.  Without the land, the rancher earns no money.  With the drought, the land is at about 20% usability.  Any damage adds to the loss for the rancher. 

Oh….. expect the big mac to jump in price, except they are usually milk cows not prime beeves.

Have a good weekend.

Snow Day

 

Today is the day, the blizzard is here.  The day many farmers and ranchers have been hoping for.  Snow makes for hazards but for the land it is nourishment.   It has been so dry that the water is dusty. 

So take a few and punch out a few keys on the keyboard and write something about something.

I have been writing some stories for the local tourism people to post on their website about the ghost towns in the area.  In the process I have found a variety of old and interesting things.   Mostly old machinery and buildings.  Other day I was visiting with a rancher whose grandfather had operated a post office out of his ranch house in the early 1900’s. 

Hanging on their wall was a relic from Mabel’s time of the barb wire network.  Two short rings was Esther's, a long ring n a short was Mildred’s, two shorts and one long ring was Evelyn’s and any one else that wanted to listen in.  Party line central it was.  News of the neighborhood was broadcast far and wide over the barb wire.

Wonder if the kids today could operate something so primitive.  They would probably ask how to boot it up.

During my journeys into the out back I have some interesting companions, watchers.  Hunting season is still on so they are a bit skittish. 

Have been lucky to find a few ghosts here and there.  The knock at the door, opening and closing, footsteps over the floor.  Check on the door and it locked, no one is in the house.  Then there is frank, he hangs in the side room.  It is amazing some of the stories that people have about their unseen room mates.

Look closely, there is a shadow in the front window and there have been reports of lights in there at night.

Always did enjoy the stories of Caspar. 

Well the ground has turned white where the snow can collect.  The wind is blowing the rest down Texas way.

Bits Here and There

 

Nature is my neighbor, sometimes not enjoyable when it is mice and spiders.  Then when Mr 10 point shows up.

He spent the afternoon there, relaxing in the shade under the semi trailer.  Later that afternoon I saw why he was lounging there.  As he grazed, he hobbled.  He had injured a leg and was not up to speed.  That evening some of hos does showed up for the evening meal.

Better then any television show.

A few days later on the way to the clinic I spotted this guy in the bar ditch.  When I went past, it just watched me.  Making a U turn and going back slowly it did not like.  To wing it took and landed in the pasture to watch me.  Make another U turn and as I’m leaving it flies back to the ditch to finish its meal.

One of many reasons why I like to avoid driving on the main highways.

We finally got some nice showers in the area.  The brown pasture above should show some green spots shortly.  Lots of lightening rolls in with the storms.  As long as there is no damage, lightening is spectacular to watch.

I hope other dry spots in the country get moisture.  We are right on the edge of the dust bowl and dry land makes the old timers nervous.

Drought makes for some spectacular Dust Devils.  This one was close to 300 feet in the air, about 10 miles away.  Hoping this area got some showers also.  Knock the dusty devils down.

Nature has its own rhythm, it’s just that sometimes we don’t want to dance to the tune.

On the Backroads

 

In my travels from here to there, I prefer to take the back roads, time permitting.  Lots of small gems pop up and then there is the clutter of civilization.  Over the years things have changed, like it or not.  When my grandparents homesteaded, there was no such thing as electricity or indoor plumbing.  Today it is expected for any and all homes.

What had been open country, dotted by a few trees, scrub brush and rolling hills.  Is now dotted with utility lines and homes.

The barn and corral make a nice pastoral scene but right there in front is the utility pole.  Place for a yard light and lights in the barn.  Until the REA came around it was kerosene/oil lamps to light the way. 

Electricity has had a major impact on the way one lives their life.  It powers our homes, heats it, fuels jobs, a level of security and lights the darkness.  Without electricity I would not be posting this blub.  What started out as small generating plants for communities to large power complexes.

From what had been a pastoral scene to now a cluttered horizon.  They stand there whooshing in the breeze.  Electricity flows off the wind in someone’s pocket book.  I turn on the computer and hear a slight swoosh. 

What’s interesting is the jealousy these things have created.  Just a few people get money from these giant erector sets.  The neighbors that have none, want some and they gripe about the neighbors that have some.

Oh the price of electricity has went up but it appears to of created another type of class warfare.  A struggle among the classes that has been going on for centuries.  The ones that perceive themselves as having nothing and envying those that appear to be rich.

Sop when I look out across the plains, no longer to I see the follies of man spinning but I see their struggles to live within themselves.  Envy is a bitter pill to live with yet so many harbor it.

A bitterness that cascades across the rolls of life.

Now where did my barn get off to.

The Life of the Wild

 

Deer are plentiful in the evening and fun to look at  as they browse on the grasses.  They also a desired by predators and they make an evening meal for numerous critters.  They also become road kill when they get close to the highways and try to cross.

They are a curious animal, standing there staring at the two legged creature snapping pictures.  They are also mesmerized by headlights at night and blinded.   A combination that is very deadly.  There is a stretch of highway west of here that I see a dead one along side the road almost weekly.  The herd lives on though, it is but part of the process.

 

Quietly they munch away on their evening meal. glancing back at the stranger.  Life and death wages on in the wild.  Where it comes from, when will it happen….. is but s moment of fear that flies into adversity.

Being atop of the food chain it is a fear I know not.  My cognitive reasoning carries me through dangerous moments.  A separation that carries very little understanding.

 

May God be your companion this week.

Flying South…. Nope Not Me

 

This time of year the V’s have been floating over head.  A lots of them have been landing here.  No longer do they go to the warmer climes of the south.  Today there are numerous man made lakes for the birds to splash in.  Nearby are fields loaded with seeds.  It is heaven for birds.  The climate is not that harsh here through the winter.  Daytimes highs occasionally reach into the 70’s during the winter mostly it is the 50’s n 60’s.

So the migrating birds have found it is a nice place to hang out for the winter.  The golf courses make nice places to hang out and the farmers leave behind seeds that were not there a 100 years ago and there are those who feed the birds. 

The journey south is much shorter now.

Seldom do the ponds freeze solid so the birds have a refuge from the two legged critters.  There is plenty of down to insulate them.

In the morning feeding time thousands upon thousands can be seen flocking to the sun flower fields and nearby corn fields.  It is an amazing sight to see millions of birds in V’s up in the air circling fields.

Massive farming has changed the way lots of wildlife lives today.  There is probably more wildlife today then there was over 100 years ago.  There is an abundance of food and shelter that the farmer and rancher have provided.  Don’t tell the greenies that though.  They think the farmers and ranchers are pretty stupid and can’t take care of wildlife.

I put the little bird feeder out for the little birds but to see the millions of massed birds is incredible.  Man influences the environment but to what extent.  Do I really want to foul the land I live in.

Hope your week is going well and that may the bird of paradise be your companion.

Water Springs Forth

Snow is cursed by so many, yet it a fount of life that carries many through the parched summer.  High in the mountains snow fills the ridges, covers the valleys and caps the trees, making a vista to be in awe of.  But that very snow feeds the rivulets that cascade down the hills. oozing under ground.

Wind whipped snow sends all scurrying for protection.  Grasses are covered, bushes peek out and trees sway to the extra weight.  The damage of the snow is the renewal of spring.  Moisture in the shite stuff ushers forth the green fresh plants to blossom in glory.

For miles this moisture can travel underground to sprout forth in tiny puddles.  Gushing springs heave forth to nourish the ground.  Last years snow flows up out of the dirt.

A tiny wet spot oozes out of the ground.  Tumbles down the hillside to nourish a few plants to sink back in the ground.

A small ribbon of green marks the spot where the water flows.  Returning back to the earth to resurface in a another location.

Here the animals found water to slake their thirst.  Not more then a mud hole but pools enough of water.  Hundreds of miles away are the mountains but underneath the ground are streams of a different nature.  Water travels through the sandy rocks for miles to seep out of the ground at another place.  Creating a small garden on the parched prairie.

Indians knew of these places.  here they would find the animals for their food, plants for their food and water for their thirst. 

What appears to be barren land, the starkness in broken by a few trees.  On far hillside a small grove of trees mark a spring.  The hillside is an escarpment revealing where the formations of the mountains is exposed.  Over many miles this formation rises.  Springs ease forth along the escarpment, giving life to the land.

Small ponds create a micro system of life that would not be without the snow.  This water may of fell a number of years ago as it traveled under the earth.  Following a path the eye can not discern.

There are many springs in life.  What ushers forth, has it been there for years, has it been dammed or is waiting for release.

Peace like a river runs through it.

Fall’s Passing

 

Autumn is a brief moment, usually, but this year it shared its slow change.  Trees are still carrying their leaves and green grass in spots.  Won’t be much longer till all of the colors are gone.  Another winter storm is on its way.  Snow will collect on the leaves that are still attached and branches will break, causing problems.

Winter clothes are in the closet, ghosts and goblins are stored away for another year.  Chapters continue to unfold.  The turkey is warily walking the woods.

End of year is approaching and the celebration of a new one in on the horizon.  Crèche scenes will be dusted off and decorations to change.

Old Threshers Day…… finit

 

Threshing day, this is the day the farmer worked for.  Here he would see the fruits of his labor.  The grain was his pay for the years work of plowing, tilling and planting.  I was an area celebration.  Neighbors would gather and help each other with the threshing.  Hay ricks would be towed in, followed by grain wagons.  The wives would show up with lemonade and food, there would be visiting and catching up on the gossip.

Usually one farmer would have a threshing machine and another would supply the tractor and together the neighbors would work from sun up till it set.

Hay ricks would empty and be re loaded with the straw for the hay stack.  Grain wagons would be hauled back to the granary to be unloaded.  It was a frenzy of activity.

The tractor would be hooked up and work begins.  Wheat bundles tossed to the threshers belt and separated out grain rolls out of the chute while straw piles up behind the thresher.

For the farmer this was the most critical part of the year.  It made him or broke him.  No longer do the steamers operate the thrashers today.

The government has passed all kinds of regulations and inspections that most people don’t want to spend the money to show them off.  The government has taken a harmless hobby and quashed it because one individual screwed up and blew his tractor up.  The many have to pay for the screw up of one.

For me these celebrations are about the steamers and the roll they played in pioneer life.  Instead an old tractor gets hooked up and sputters along imitating an old steamer.

This is what I learned to drive, it was one year newer.  I didn’t drive a car till I was 16.  It was trucks and tractors out across the fields and down the country roads.

May the dove of happiness be your companion this weekend.

Old Threshers Day…… VI

 

One of the old days is the old time entertainment.  The singing, with maybe an instrument, something small, a fiddle, harmonica or a dulcimer maybe.  Guitars and pianos were just plain ole big to lug over the prairie in a covered wagon, although a few made it.  There was always the washboard and maybe some spoons.  Otherwise music was pretty simple. 

There were some singers that sang during the lunch hour.  Some good picking and twanging to go with the barbecue.  There were a couple of large canopies with picnic tables under them and a PA system was set for the entertainment.   They had their guitars and a good nasal twang, good ole down home singin’.

Later s fiddler showed up and the hoe down was under way.

Collections, never have I seen so many collectible collections.

And there were also quilts.  What is an old time day without a quilt or two.

Jump in the Ox wagon and go for a ride around the grounds.

Threshers Day….. V Draft Horses

 

The monster horse, does not pull the beer wagon, it pulls the plow and other equipment.  Draft horses are monster horses, they will come close to weighing in at a ton, 1500-1900 pounds.  15 hands tall to big ones over 18 hands.  The average horse is 11-12 hands, 1000 to 1100 pounds.  It is amazing to watch these big brutes work.  They are so gentle and easy to be around.

As I watched them work, it was not easy for the horses to plod over the dirt clods.  They would stumble at times but they maintained their balance.  At a nice even pace they walked the field.

 

I finally got this young lady to pose for me.  She is not a small person but she is dwarfed next to the horse.

As one hooks up the the buggy another keeps the horses still so they do not walk away from the tongue.  Working behind horses is a tricky business and many do not do.  Yet these handlers worked with ease behind their horses.

There were different horses there and there was a set of mules there.

Surprisingly the mule will out work the big horses.  Their stamina is longer and they don’t need the rest like a horse does.  They also tend to be stronger then a horse.  After the oxen the mule was the next preferred beast of burden for plowing or hauling wagons.  The horse is the glamour animal, the worker is the mule.

What was neat to watch was this little girl.  She appeared to be about 12 years old.  She was guiding these big horses around with ease.  A jiggle of the reins, a clicking of the tongue and the animals moved at her command.  It might of been an older brother and little sister, because he was walking with her and talking to her and the horses.  Around the yard they went.

To look over the backs of these animals, one has to be about 6’6” or get a ladder to stand on.

Have a good week.

Lawn Mowers

 

The lot next door to me is vacant and used for storing old stuff and junk.  It doesn’t get mowed so I worked out a deal with the owner to find someone with some grazing animals to put in there to keep the grass and weeds down.  Couple of ladies down the road have a collection, donkey, goats. bovines, ponies and other critters.

I wanted the goats because they eat the nasty weeds also and go right down to the nub but the fence was not good enough to keep them, in.  They went over it, through it like there was no fence there.  So that didn’t work.

They had some ponies and brought them up to munch on the grass.  They did a good job of clipping the grass down and ate a few of the weeds.  So this year they are back, chomping on the grass.  One short though, it got hurt sop it is still at its pasture healing a shoulder bruise/gash.

 

Mom and daughter have been doing a pretty good job of roaming the lots munching on the tender shoots.  I talk to them and they talk back.  Mostly I watch them and keep water in their water tank.

I like it because it reduces a fire danger next door.  It is also nice to see something beside the cat roaming there or listening to the dogs howl n bark.

Deer used to camp there but I believe with the horses in there they have moved on.  Plus the dogs get obnoxious at times also.

One nice thing, these mowers need very little maintaince and leave some fertilizer behind.

The Cat

 

Across the yard he strolls, this is his territory.  I talk to him, he pauses, hunkers down, eyes darting.  Onward he walks, glancing side to side.  I talk to him again, he stops, looks, head tilts side to side.  Seeing nothing he walks on.  Into the ditch he ducks, disappearing in the tall grasses.  Reappearing a short distance on.  Through the gate he struts.  Into the vacant lot he moves on, prowling for what is next.

Such is the life of the neighborhood Siamese.   He is a feral feline and roams over neighborhood searching out morsels and marking his territory.  The domestics leave a wide swath for him when he struts across the streets into the vacant lots and old buildings.  There are culverts to sleep in, crawl into piles of junk, jump through broken windows.  This is his domain, here he rules.  Dogs run, rabbits scurry away and birds chirp out warnings.

King of the wild way he is.  Life without home, no human comforts to manipulate. 

Birds hopping among the leaves, gathering seeds.  Tail twitching behind the shrub.  Birds chirping and flying hither and yon, pecking away at the grasses.  Peaceful moments watching the birds gather up their meal.  Sproing, tawny fur jumps out of the shrub.  To close had the little bird ventured, he was now the meal.

His majesty dines on his capture.  Head in air he crosses to the culvert to relax for a bit and an afternoon nap.

 

Nature’s Way

 

 

Scrambling through ditches and pastures I stumble across things that fit or how’d that get there.

 

 

 

The wind gathers the seeds up and deposits them in among the grasses n weeds.  Jewels to sparkle in the green surrounds.  The beds of flowers and planters spread their bounty on the wind, finding  new places to set roots down.

Tromping among the stickers and thorns these damsels thrive, making a beauty.  Pausing for a moment, enjoy the reward, saying thanks to the ways of nature.

Along with the beauty are the ravenous monsters.  They eat each other and devour fields.  They can become so thick that the ground moves, sun light fades when they fly in hoards. The grasshopper is related to the locust and like the locust, grasshoppers can strip plants into the ground.

It is amazing anything lives after these little monsters have passed by.  There is a plan for destruction, nature renews itself, even in spite of man’s attempts to the contrary.  One of the reasons I question the greenies cry of wolf on the global warming issue.

Nature has a balance and will make changes to keep that balance… In spite of the human meddling.  We can help… but destroy………..