Spring Snow Storm

I had been out of town for several days, and when I returned Saturday night Kansas was being mugged by a spring storm. It was more severe out west than it was here in the South east part of the state.
The storm blew through fast leaving a foot of snow out west but just a few inches here.
I took a walk around our place early Sunday to look around and found some unique ice sculptures growing in the redbud blossoms.
The redbud trees are in full bloom.
There were fresh deer tracks in the snow from earlier or late last night, the sun was already warming things up a bit.
The crabapple blossoms didn't seem to mind the conditions, as I headed back to the house the temperature was rising. By afternoon most of the snow was gone and the spring peepers had begun their chorus as if nothing had happened.

Sky Watch Friday

Early March Sunrise
Crawford County Kansas

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Waiting for Sun Rise

Lately Ive been leaving for work in the dark before sunup. This week however we have off. So Ive been greeting the Sun whenever possible. The other morning I stood in the cool air, the kind that sneaks down your jacket collar. I was not alone, while waiting I listened and heard, turkeys, cardinals, geese, ducks, meadowlarks, an owl, our resident mocking bird, dogs in the distance and a rooster.
Canadian Geese leaving the pond for the day flew over me in small groups announcing their departure.
Some left alone
Peach blossoms waiting for the right moment to open.
A species of nanking cherry we planted for wildlife seems ready to bloom as well.

crab apple leaves greeting the sunrise, and daffodils my daughter planted years ago still come back each spring for these early morning walks.
Sunrise.

Shamrock Festival

In these tough times leave it to the Irish to come out and celebrate! Someone in town came up with the idea of a way to show some home town pride, share stories and song and maybe a few smiles. A hundred or so years ago folks with names like O'Brien, and O'Malley settled here along side other immigrants from Italy and the Balkans region in Europe. They worked in the coal mines and set down roots.

The parade began at 1pm to be followed by workshops in Celtic Music and Dance at different locations around town. There were folks on motorcycles.
The Irish Saints marched.


Our local Y dancers rode in a float.
This young lady danced an Irish dance all the away to the end.
Of course this is Kansas so there were horses and riders with their Irish on.
I heard that Freud once remarked that the Irish were the only people that psychoanalysis would not work on. Being of Irish heritage I take that as a compliment.

Afternoon Walk

I hiked along a trail near town the other day when the weather was still in the sixties, this weekend has been cold blowing snow in the 20's, well it is Kansas and it is February.
The trail winds through old mined land, small lakes called pits, hills of rock called over burden, long since abandoned. Now they support a oak and hickory dominated landscape.
Theses trees in the water will be the lounge chairs for turtles in a few months. Lots of sign of beaver along the banks, not many birds here that day. Black-capped Chickadees, Slate Covered Juncos and a Downy Woodpecker greeted me at this small pit lake.
Signs of spring! Ill be back to check on these to see when they bloom.

"I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets. It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day. It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful. Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy." ~Hamlin Garland, McClure's, February 1899

Skywatch Friday

A recent sunrise here in South East Kansas
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Shoal Creek in Feburary

Just south of Galena Kansas is a small park built in the 1930s during hard times by the Civillain Conservation Corp. It features a wonderful nature center, and an inviting trail that winds along Shoal creek. One warm afternoon my wife and I could hear it calling and decided to answer. We left behind the chores, and the cabin fever of February set out on a hike along the creek. These photos are from that walk.

Light and Seeds along the bank.

Shoal creek in February, looking east

Ice Rooster

There was a multitude of rocks, fresh water and mussel shells in the low creek bed, lending themselves to moments of quiet focus searching for fossils, arrow heads and many "ohh look at this one rocks". Maybe we are just easily amused, then again, maybe not, I find more mystery and beauty in a fossil than most folks. Reality shows? Oscar fashions? I think Id rather be out here on a day like this.

Leaf and Rocks in Creek

Light playing in the grass.

I love this Sycamore hanging on with a stubborn determination to not give up the bank.