evening sky by Monet

the thunderstorm moves in from the south at sunset

please use Caution

If you are tempted to use the structural steel at the new University Center as your personal jungle gym...

then please use CAUTION when you hang by your knees, they put the sign so you could read it if you do.

double Trouble

What else will the Terrible Twins decide to munch on today? This morning they pulled the marigolds out of the pot by the mailbox, ate the flowers and left the plants in the middle of the road. They do not read plant labels that say "deer resistant".

the one called Blackie

I've never grown fuschia before, arid South Dakota makes it tricky, but this one called Blackie just said, "pick me", so I did. I hope it is lush and gorgeous when the hummingbirds migrate back through in August. I'll let you know, it sure is an eyecatcher after an afternoon shower.

West River Migratory Bird Count day

May 14, 15, and 16 a number of volunteer birders in the Black Hills do an annual migration census. Similar to the Audubon Christmas Bird Count in some respects, we are checking to see what migrants are arriving and passing through. I walked about 4.5 miles along the banks of Rapid Creek, found some old familiar friends seen for the first time this spring. Yellow warblers and song sparrows were the singers, spotted towhees were the skulkers and blue jays were the early warning system. I have 58 species on my list so far, more counting tomorrow.

The eagles I did not see, they move on after spending the winter. This one is on our Academy tipi cover. Our Native American graduating seniors were honored at a Feather Ceremony on Wednesday. An awesome and moving traditional celebration, it was a privilege to be there and watch the kids receive their eagle feathers and eagle plumes.
It has been a week of birds across the spectrum.

rectangular Prisms?

Accidental art at Office Depot

May 12th in what Hemisphere?

May 12, 2010

Lincoln Academy

Rapid City, SD

Which season is this???

the tree in front of the Window

from "Birches" by Robert Frost

"...I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.	"

are you Kidding?

We are under ANOTHER winter weather advisory!

SNOW again in the next 24 hrs!

In the words of the immortal Charlie Brown, "Good Grief"

just like a meteor in the Night

this little "shooting star" appeared in the Bluebell Thicket.  A native prairie wildflower, I know where local patches are, but never have had on on my half acre! These flowers are bee pollinated, but due to their odd shape, bees use "buzz pollination".

Flowers like dodecatheon (the shooting stars), nightshade, blueberries and tomatoes are pollinated this way. The bees grasp the anthers, emit high pitched buzzing sounds which cause a kind of sonic explosion of the pollen. These flowers are favored by bumblebees, not honeybees since they have no nectar reward for the pollinators. Who knew??

There is a great explanation on buzz pollination at www.baynature.org. Put buzz pollination in the search box on the left hand side.

PS.
Happy Mother's Day everyone :o)

International Migratory Bird Day

International Migratory Bird Day

May 8, 2010

Rapid Creek, Rapid City, SD   44N 103W

This riparian area was full of migrating warblers this morning,

Welcome small travelers!

it all adds Up...

to 1/2 " this time in the rain gauge...glad to have it!

Again!

May 5, 2010

May 6, 2010

a southern Belle

Did you think that magnolias were only for southern belles on plantations and beautiful gardens in places South? This one lives and blooms in the foothills of the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is a hardy yellow one called Butterflies. My friend and I check it daily, like waiting for Christmas, anticipating the flowers. Last year we got a May blizzard just as it started blooming, drat!

Last Friday, it looked like this. It does look like a tree full of butterflies! You can order one from Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery, if you want to try your luck, the homeowners who planted it are tickled with their success.

spring twilight Trees

sapphire spring twilight

silhouettes birch and linden

infant leaves await the sun

a leo in Taurus

Leo lives on the front porch of a house on the Boulevard...he is absolutely my favorite lawn ornament in the whole West Boulevard historic district. He would not be out of place on the steps of the New York City Public Library.

from the Web

the robins' Orchard

The dwarf North Star cherry in the "North 40" has seen some tough times, but the cherries it produces are marvelous for jelly, and loved by the robins and other fruit fanatics. The "Bluebell Woods" that have grown up around my birdbath/feeder area is entirely bird planted. There is honeysuckle, cotoneaster, mountain ash, chokecherry and gooseberry as the understory of the big ponderosa pines. What I discovered is that there are also cherries, they have bloomed in the thicket for the first time this spring , much to my surprise and delight!
Welcome, robins and cedar waxwings, the feast should be ready for you the second week in July!

the pink Tree

Happy May Day!

shadowDancing

Late afternoon sun, window blinds, graceful birch tree = shadowDancing on the dining room window

there's brick and then there is Psycho-brick

Just monkeyin' with Photoshop

the Galileo Lab

This involves Jason, the science teacher, on the roof of Lincoln Academy, 4th period kids and me on the ground and various things being dropped from the sky. See Galileo's experiments in the 16th century involving the tower of Pisa for precedent.

Thomas Nuttall, 1786-1859

Nuttall's violet is one of the earliest of the prairie wildflowers to bloom in the "wild" part of my yard, and one of my favorites. Named in honor Thomas Nuttall, a British born naturalist and one of America's pioneer paleontologists and plant collectors.

Nuttall was the curator of the Harvard Botanic Garden in the 1820s and at the Philadelphia Academy of Science in the 1830s. He traveled west and collected many of the prairie species first seen by Lewis and Clark whose sample plants were lost during their Voyage of Discovery. Nuttall is honored by not only having the violet named for him, but 4 other plants and 4 bird species as well.

spring migration is On

OK, admittedly these guys landed only one block off South Street, and it was raining and foggy, but they are the rarest spring migrants I've ever seen in western South Dakota. :o)

gloria swanson, is that You?

Sometimes Cinderella needs to have her dress shortened before Prom, and sometimes she gets a little silly when the seamstress is trying to work. And sometimes the seamstress goes and gets a camera...

Cinderella and Prince Charming looked amazing when they headed for the ball. 

 Gloria Swanson by Edward Steichen, 1924

he and She

He waits and watches, while she sits and waits patiently in the rain. She has been incubating the eggs for about 14 or 15 days now, with probably as many more left to go before the goslings hatch. He was extremely suspicious of me, despite the fact that I shot the picture from the car and she was across the small pond. She is very tolerant of the mallards who live on the pond, they will snooze right next to her nest on a sunny afternoon. Probably more pairs of eyes and ears are to everyone's benefit except potential predators.

reflections on a rainy Day

More welcome rain in the Dakotas!

earthbound Clouds

Clouds of blossom against the blue skies of an April day.

Happy Day, Mother Earth

hoping this, turns into THIS

hoping that these baby strawberry plants will soon gift us with these!

here comes the Sun

Here comes the sun. Tulip "Heart's Delight" finds the sunshine her hearts delight, shrugs off the droplets and shows her stuff.

showery Day

Drip, drip, drop
Little April shower
Beating a tune
As you fall all around

Drip, drip, drop
Little April shower
What can compare
To your beautiful sound

Drip, drip, drop
When the sky is cloudy
Your pretty music
Can brighten the day

lyrics from Walt Disney's Bambi

out of Hibernation

Oliver is out of hibernation and back in the garden.

candles and Cones

Ponderosa pine getting ready for spring growth, nothing showy like tulips and daffodils, but renewal of the species is its aim just the same.

on my way to School...

The Fairview Street Tree Spirit...how to make something fun out of an winter storm disaster to your tree. He faces the street as I come around the corner on the way to school in the morning. How can you not smile at that???

tax Day!

Your accountant might be wearing just such a dapper blue and white striped shirt today as he finishes your taxes. Ma Nature dresses puschkinia in similar garb in April. No taxes involved.

This is an heirloom bulb has been in cultivation since 1808, a native to Turkey and the Caucasus Mts. A whole hillside of them must be amazing to see.

poetry for Becka

"Daffodils" (1804)

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

April is National Poetry Month

hens and Chickens

Up close and personal.

dent du Lion

Did you ever look at a dandelion flower up close? Click on the photo and look at the curlicues and the rest of the structure, it's pretty cool.

Dent du lion (lion's tooth) is the original spelling, the description of the serrated lives looking like teeth, not the flower. Dandelions are a important source of pollen and nectar for early spring flying butterflies and honeybees. 

They are also an important source of pollen for allergy sufferers in early spring, unfortunately. On the other hand they have been an important food source for humans for hundreds of years, loaded with vitamins and minerals and fresh greens after a long winter of preserved foods. And now you know.