Gravel Roads

Wildflowers

Crawford County Kansas

Looking South along a Gravel Road

Crawford County

We have had a rough week of storms and constant rain, the sun finally appeared late yesterday afternoon. Twice this week we had to seek shelter as the sirens sounded in our nearby town. Usually one of my daughters will call and in an annoyed and nervous voice say; "why are you guys still home don't you hear the sirens"? We jump into the car and head into town to the hospital as we have no real basement.

So yesterday when the sun came out so did I. Gravel roads are great places to walk they beat the heck out of a treadmill at the YMCA. You can find solitude and are usually serenaded by the local birds, no headphones and i-pods needed.
As i hiked along I stopped at flooded ponds and creeks, red wing blackbirds singing here. Further down the road a nighthawk sat on the top wire of a barb wire fence and watched me approach. Its rare that you see one like this. They usually are flying. As I approached it sounded a low guttural version of its call and flew when I got too close. I did manage a photo but was not at all satisfied when I enlarged the section with the night hawk, I need to get a zoom for these walks.

Wildflowers are blooming everywhere, yarrow, daisy fleabane, red clover as well as many I don't know but am learning. This wet weather has been very good to them. After such a stormy week there is somehting about coming out here that takes you to a different place, a frame of mind or even time but your not alone. Western kingbirds, dickcissels, meadowlarks, grasshopper sparrows, cowbirds, a kestrel, and even a great blue heron all join you on these gravel roads.