• animals,  natural areas,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area

    Keep’n it simple…

    Prairie dog at Pineridge Natural Area

    Not sure how you feel but I have wanted my millions of followers of this blog to have the option to receive notification through email anytime I posted something new and exciting on my blog. So, I tried two different plugins and had difficulty getting either one of them to do what I wanted. I never could figure them out, nor did I feel comfortable with them, nor did I understand all the terminology, nor did it seem simple. So, I decided the best way to keep it simple was not have any of it. When I’m honest about it, I want the half dozen people who do read my blog to just drop by when they want or use an RSS feed. Yes, keep’n it simple.

  • clouds,  landscape,  Mary Oliver,  natural areas,  Pineridge Natural Area,  poems

    Paying Attention

    I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
    I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
    into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
    how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
    which is what I have been doing all day.
    Tell me, what else should I have done?

    Mary Oliver

    I spent an hour at one of the natural areas this afternoon. The sun felt good as I sat on the bench and looked out over the meadow, being idle and blessed. The trees along the edges of the reservoir are taking on the colors of fall, while some already stand naked of leaves. A fall wind blows in my face from the northeast. I watch clouds casting their shadows over the meadow and I could hear the prairie dogs bark as people walked along the trails. I was practicing how to pay attention.

  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  poems,  poetry,  Reservoir Ridge Natural Area,  writing/reading

    the many gifts of nature…

    sitting on a bench at the natural area
    I look out across the open meadow

    a light wind blows from the south
    softly whispering through golden grass

    taking simple breaths I remain present
    far from those places thoughts beckon

    a blue jay chatters from a pine branch
    joined by a chorus of barking prairie dogs

    I’m listening…

    but all goes silent with my unexpected sneeze
    an engulfing quiet settles upon the meadow

    silence is broken with a chickadees two-note song
    inviting the prairie dogs and blue jays back

    a squawking magpie joins in and so the
    concert continues much to my pleasure

    within this simple experience I am
    offered one of the many gifts of nature

    I’m listening…

    ms
  • clouds,  landscape,  mountains,  natural areas,  prairie

    Connection to the natural world

    Cloudy afternoon at Cathy Fromme Prairie Area
    Cloudy afternoon at Cathy Fromme Prairie Area

    I needed more time away from the bustle of the city so drove out to the Cathy Fromme Prairie Area for a walk. This short grass prairie was established because of the large prairie dog community and the support it provided for coyotes, raptors and rattlesnakes. This area has never seen a plow so it remains in a pre-settlement state. They built a nice covered observatory allowing visitors to see hawks and eagles. The birds are amazing with my favorite being the Western Meadowlark and its song. A sad part was the city deciding to poison off the prairie dog community due to disease. Never the less its always a place to find a connection to the natural world for me. 

  • natural areas,  Plants

    After the Fire

    After the Fire
    After the Fire

    Last July there was a small fire at the Cathy Fromme Nature area and investigators determined it as caused by fireworks. I did not know anything about it until early fall when talking a walk out there. We made a revisit yesterday afternoon and found this image. It’s not a very appealing image but does show the devastation a fire can have. I will try and go back in a month or so to see what nature is dong in it’s recovery.

    A positive note has been the prairie dogs. The city poisoned them about 3 years ago due to a plague. Well, yesterday I could hear them barking again which meansthey are moving back into the area. One of the reasons for the nature area was to provide a habitat for them, not eliminate them.

  • animals

    Eye Contact

    Watching

    Ever wonder what an animal is thinking as they make eye contact and stare? In this case I assume he is not thinking about the political debates, his taxes, his 401k, or who won the Super-bowl. His focus is on the world around him, which includes us. This world is where he finds shelter and food, the necessities of sustaining life. He is part of nature. He stares at me trying to determine if I’m a  predator or abserver, a danger or not. However, I do smile as it doesn’t look like he’s that worried about eating. 🙂