Our friendly resident killdeer decided to “nest” in front of our loading dock.  We marked the spot, a slight depression in the stones, so she doesn’t get her stone-colored eggs run over.  Every time we come near she has to give us the broken wing act.  It’s a hot, sunny, and most tedious job she has this summer, trying to ensure survival of her species.

As the sun begins to set the other deer peer at us from the prairie also intent upon their survival, feeling safe in the head-high native grass. 

The near-perfection of the summer blooms tells us that the seeds of survival will also abound as flowers mature.

​Now is the flip-side of winter.  Six months ago the land was level and white.  Now the native cup-plants rise eight feet above the ground.  The tallest migratory birds (egrets, herons, and cranes) have returned to wade the wetlands and stand at attention as the summer marches past.  

​     It’s that time of year again when the young buds begin to develop on the coneflower plants. Gangly Sandhill cranes follow their parents and yearling bucks in velvet stand at attention in newly-sprouted bean fields.  Young geese, now feathered, look forward to the wonder of flight soon to be experienced.  Even our young cross new thresholds of life.