Five Feet High and Rising

With apologies to Johnny Cash, it's not water I'm talking about, but the grass and weeds in my yard!

We had sunshine all day yesterday -- hurrah!-- and my water-logged yard dried out a bit. This morning's sky, however, showed clouds containing the threat of rain AGAIN! Looking at the weather map and reading the forecast is just down right depressing!

Therefore, with forehead bound up with a bandana to keep the sweat out of my eyes, and a day's water and rations dangling from my belt loops lest I be lost in the jungle between my back door and the garden shed, I got out the lawnmower, mowed a track to enable me to reach the front yard, and made hay (but not while the sun was shining.) Since we're also under a wind-advisory, I didn't take time to sweep the cuttings off the walk. Mother Nature sometimes comes to the aid of lazy folk.

Of course, I exaggerate the height of the weeds and grass, but some clumps of what looks like wild oats (who's been cavorting in my yard when I'm not looking?) were a good 10-12 inches tall. However, I have seen grass five feet high, and rising; a remnant of the tall grass prairie which used to cover huge sections of the plains states. This particular batch was in Chase County, Kansas, the setting for a wonderful book, PrairieErth, by William Least Heat Moon, who is also the author of Blue Highways. I recommend both for your reading enjoyment.

Wikipedia (I love it!) has a wonderful article on Tall Grass Prairies here. Conservation efforts are alive and well in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and elsewhere (including parts of Canada). A bit of Googling on "tall grass prairie" will take you to some very interesting sites, should you be tempted to take a look.

Note to Jeannelle of Iowa: Prairie City, IA has a tall grass prairie preserve. I don't know how close that is to your home, but I know you would find it interesting, chock full of photo ops!