Organizing Chaos and Pushing on a Rope

Well the pilgrims (tourists) are here for the annual migration so summer is in full swing in the Black Hills. So far May and June have been cool and wet, not unusual except for the amount of rain. Usually our monsoon season is over this week and things start warming up and drying out. We are about 4 inches of precipitation ahead this spring. Good news for the growing things but I'm still trying to rebuild our road from a 5 inch rain storm four weeks ago.

All this rain has a bright side, the grass is tall, tree leaves are full and healthy, and the spruce all have the bright green tip at the end of each branch showing new growth. I have had the distinct pleasure of working on a radio repeater far off the beaten path in the higher parts of the Black Hills. Along the path to the site there is a slightly damp area where the wild Iris are blooming, about 200 square feet of them. The blue-purple flowers standing proud on bright green stalks are worth the bouncing for eight miles. But this is one of those places I don't think I'll tell exactly where it is. There have been poachers active the last few years taking the wild flowers from sites like this for transplanting elsewhere. I have seen areas devastated just so one perfect or rare plant can be taken and most often the wild plants don't survive. It has been getting harder to find wildflowers that were once common, the pasque flowers, Iris, Orchids, Tiger lilies, Sago Lilies, Cone Flowers, Daises, and Roses. Harvey Dunn did one of my favorite paintings about a woman and her child collecting wild flowers on their homestead, titled "The Prairie is My Garden", two of the flowers in the painting are now on the endangered species list.

No matter where you live nature has placed a bounty for the senses, enjoy it but leave and protect the places - they are falling fast to the unknowing and selfish.