Oh What a Beautiful Sight!

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to drive through the pastures and check cattle. In the past years it has sometimes been a bit of a downer because of the drought and conditions of the pasture. Not this year! Yesterday it was a pure joy to go look through the cattle with the dogs keeping me company. We've had so much rain lately I don't even know how much we have gotten in the last month or so, but probably 5 inches or more.

 

Ok, so maybe there aren't cattle in the above location, but it is a favorite location of my dad and I. These are two lowly mulberry trees that were planted here at some point. And right around this time is when they get loaded up with mulberries. For some reason, it takes us a while to "check" the cattle around the mulberry trees ;-)

 

Just a beautiful Kansas sky with beautiful tall grass. The photos don't really do the colors justice.

 

Over by the mulberry trees, some of the original inhabitants of the area had a garden planted at one time. That is dad's theory on the random asparagus that I have discovered there the past year or so. It isn't a big patch, but in western Kansas finding any sort of edible food just growing on its own is pretty cool!

 

These are three walls of a stone house that still stands in our pasture. We don't know how old it is or who lived in it, but looking at it always makes me think about the lives of those that lived in it. If you look carefully there is a circle cut out of one rocks that goes to where the chimney is on the backside and there is also a wooden rail that I like to imagine was used to hang coats.

 

Here is another structure and it stands on top of where the rocks were actually cut from to build it.

 

I used to spend hours looking at these rocks as a kid hoping to find a shark's tooth. I never did find one, but I found some sea shells. Now it is just neat to look at the layers of history that are contained here.

 

It also makes for a great photo op of mom and dad's dog.

 

I will always think of my dad when I look at these flowers. He likes to see them and says they are called "bachelor buttons." They make the pastures look beautiful and they are abundant this year.

 

These two were "dog tired" after checking the pastures. Sorry, couldn't resist that one. They were pretty worn out on the warm day and needed a well-deserved rest and cooling off period under one of the mulberry trees.

 

Just down the hill from the mulberry trees was another small "pond." I'm not sure what to call it. It was bigger than a puddle for sure, but I don't ever remember seeing water in it, so I'm not sure that it is a pond. It might be something we refer to as a "buffalo wallow" which is a low lying area that tends to fill with water. Like I said though, I'm not used to seeing water there so it was a pretty neat surprise!

I really enjoyed the afternoon as you can tell. I wish that pictures could also capture the smell of the prairie when it is green like this. I had so many memories come flooding back to me as I drove around and enjoyed the truly sweet smell that the grass and plants all give off. I don't know that there is a better, less-polluted smell in the world. Praise the Lord for all that He has blessed us with so far this summer and the new life that we see springing up on a daily basis!