Back from the Frozen Hinterlands

Crumby is back, temporarily maybe, from wage slavery on the Rolling Plains. Yes. Crumby has merged into a long, historical line of comrades or pack mules that plodded across those dusty parts. Yes sir. We all plodded along bearing great burdens. Sometimes the mass of the burdens approached or maybe equaled the mass of the bearer. Sometimes, according to mythology, all an average person could espy of an average sized mule was the pack on its back. Mercy! But everywhere else, an average observer might espy even a tiny shrew zipping through the short grass. But not according to the mythology we are now discussing.

Remember how the Republican Mammonites created the myth that these parts were once entirely a prairie. Oh yes. All this was once a prairie. The grass was so tall a horse normally disappeared from view due to the great height of the grass.

Well. Maybe down in the creeks, amid the switchgrass and sand bluestem, the dang horse's legs might disappear. But no way the whole horse would disappear. Unless the horse was one of those midget ponys. Jeez Louise! Crumby espied some very tiny midget ponys. Those midget ponys would be entirely invisible in the switchgrass.

For Goodness Sakes! Even Karl the Tracker Druid would have trouble rounding up stray midget ponys in the switchgrass. What a job that would be? See. Even if your job sucks, you can usually imagine a worse job.

It took Crumby a minute or two to figure out Andropogon gerardii var. hallii, or, Andropogon hallii as some would have it. Sand bluestem does look way different than the regular big bluestem. Reckon it sets seed?

Crumby aint sure about the sunflower that's everywhere though. Hard to believe such a weed could be native. But it may be Helianthus petioloaris. Ah-ha! There's nothing quite like botany in virgin parts in the dead of winter. Huh-huh.