Spring

Great Blue Heron standing in the field

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Herons have begun arriving in the panhandle. They gather in the lush wetlands of the larger creeks and marshy areas of Whitney Lake, where bluegills are plentiful. The male herons arrive first to rebuild or reclaim their nest.

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Shed Season has begun!

February is one of my favorite months. Shed season has begun. Several deer have been in the pasture with only one side of antlers attached. They fell off somewhere- in the pasture, the ravine, the forest? This is the month my hounds and I like to go out looking for the “sheds.” Bucks drop their

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We’re innocent!

It wasn’t me! It was his fault! All three of them just sitting there looking the other way. None of them copping on the truth. Thirty minutes earlier, we were out hiking when I stopped to snap a photo. That’s when I heard Bandit barking for his siblings, “Let’s chase the cat!” I know that

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Cottonwood trees loosing their cotton

Dentist, Cicada and Me

I looked like a mess. My shirt was thoroughly wrinkled, and my hair stuck out in every direction, but I went out the door looking like this anyway. My 4×4 TrailBlazer, well, that, too, needed to be washed. Several inches of mud coated the inside of its wheel wells, the side panels, and the inner

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Ponderosa Pine and Nebraska Prairie

Life on The Edge

I live on The Edge.  My home is on the edge —where the prairie meets the forest. Here, the Sandhills border farmlands. Wildlife and domestic cross along the same game trails. I climb to the top of the sandstone buttes behind my home. There, I can see far to the north, more than 50 miles,

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John Deer pulling the hay spreader for cattle

The Cowboy and the Farmgirl

Since spring is happening on the prairie, it is also in young men and women’s hearts and thoughts. It is hard to find a partner when there are more cows than people. Most of the time is spent riding fence lines or planting for the future of the land, be it corn or pasture hay.

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Mariah

Nearly every day, I listen to Mariah. Her voice — constant, from a light breeze to a fierce energy-pummeling force. She carries dust, dirt, snow, and rain; occasionally, she lightly drifts in with the softest of whispers, gently stroking the prairie grasses along her path. But today, she descends upon the landscape. Spring is here,

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Neighbors gather at Branding

Branding at Toad’s

Out here, branding cattle is a part of Spring. Neighbors get together and help each other brand their new herd. On Saturday, under the heat of the midday sun, we all met at Toad’s place to brand his cattle that were born this year. From Bull to Steer At this branding, I jumped in and

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