Drought? What Drought?



This has been a long, hard summer for Kansas as it has been for much of the United States.  Lack of rain has confounded the local efforts to grow corn and other crops.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars of valuable corn literally burned to death in the punishing sunlight, dessicated by the blast furnace winds.  The air has been almost entirely devoid of humidity, which makes the 80 and 90 degree weather quite pleasant for human beings, but means there is simply no rainfall, even when the climate triggers what normally brings rainfall.  When the temperature is 100 degrees and higher, it does not matter if there is humidity or not:  it is terribly hot and uncomfortable for almost every living thing.

Thanks to thousands of years of evolution, the indestructible sun flowers came on despite the lack of rain.... despite the herbicides sprayed in the ditches... and because they escaped the mowers.  What you cannot see in these photos is that all of these towering plants have sprung from a narrow strip at the edge of the road that was not sprayed.  These sunflower plants are in defiance of our relentless chemical war.  They are surviving despite our ruthless subjugation of the prairie.  They grew despite so little rain, almost like magic.

Ponds that are not spring fed are almost all dry, even the resident heron's pond.  I would not expect any fish to survive in the warm stagnant water this late in the year, but maybe there are a few tough creatures left, maybe enough to feed this lone bird. 

Last night a few precious raindrops fell on me on the way to the barn.  I humbly asked the Creator to grant us a healing rain if at all possible but the clouds soon cleared.  Soon afterward the arc of a perfect rainbow appeared above the pasture.  It began as a dim smudge of color but grew into a vibrant full arc, some against the receding clouds but most of it against the backdrop of a clear blue sky.  

We have brought this on ourselves and now we are facing the consequences.  It is not going to be easy and many other creatures besides human are going to suffer - are already suffering.  Apparently the only way we will change our destructive habits is to live with the consequences.  The rainbow filled my heart with hope.  Like the sunflowers, there are bound to be other defiant survivors.     

What Drought?



Missed By the Herbicide



The Largest, Most Handsome Grasshopper I Have Ever Seen

Almost Gone

Can There Possibly Be Any Food for the Heron?