" I walk here and there, seeking open,

flat spaces against a sky up high.

I have discovered, too late, perhaps

that I always preferred the empty

more than the full

for breathing and forgiving."

from  The prairie farmland fields

Teresa Palomo Acosta 

We have been at the cabin for a couple of weeks which 

accounts for my absence from the net. Since we took the

dogs for the first time we converted the 9 hour drive into a

two day journey. They traveled well but I did enjoy the shorter

days. The first part of the journal was thru the mixed grass 

prairie an area that, once you are away from the rivers could 

be described as flat. It is very much an area of the open road

long distances between small prairie towns marked by water towers 

and the increasingly endangered grain elevators. It is a landscape

that celebrates its identity as big sky country. 

  

  

This particular elevator located the in aspen parklands area

of the northern prairie before it transitions into the boreal forest

is an indication that we are close to home.

"On the prairie, what you are left with is the bare truth,

 the land pared down to the bone, the basic dirt and 

grass and sky that shape the lives that play out upon it."

                           from The Secret Life of Cowboys

                                             Tom Groneberg