Owls and Old Farm House

 Here is a blurry, but spooky picture of a barn owl.

 An owl flew from the window of the old house, probably the mate to this one.

 The porch leans and the house leans, even the tree leans! I always wonder about an abandoned farm like this. Who lived there? What happened to them?

 I think it must have once been a very nice farm. It is located along highway 52 which runs

 north from Morris, Oklahoma toward 16.

Someone decorated for Christmas.

 See the Christmas lights?

What is interesting to me seeing an old place like this is how quickly a whole farm can degrade back down into the land. How soon it all is grown over with grass and shrubs and trees and decomposed  into the prairie. Some day people will pass and not be able to tell that a house and barn ever stood there.

Hay Fields and Hawks

 Hawks wheel above hay fields searching for a meal in the moving grasses.

 Often a lone tree in a field survives cattle ranging and becomes a sculpture against the sky.

 Bales of hay are lined up like windbreaks along the edges of fields waiting for winter use.

A round bale of hay like this will feed a horse or a couple of cows for a week or so.

 Berry and brier bushes spring  along fences in the summer.

 The dry grasses still hold nutrition until they are washed by fall rains.

 This is cattle country. Many farms have horses, cows and a few donkeys. The donkeys act as guards to keep stray dogs and coyotes out of pastures.

Old fence posts intrigue me. This one is a conglomeration of stump,metal pipe , barbed wire, and wood.

These are "horse apples" from an Osage Orange tree.They litter the ground near fence lines bordering hay fields.

 Cedar trees grows wild along fences and are considered a problem by ranchers and farmers.

 This is the path along the creek which leads to our back forty acres which we use primarily to raise hay.

Our neighbors cows were upset at my walking too near.

 Seeds attached to tuffs of cotton-like down are windblown.

 This fence post marks the road line which was once fenced with barbed wire.

Country Roads

 This dirt road near my home trundles off into the woods where I came on an old homesite and a couple of ruined buildings which could have been school houses or possibly churches and another that was obviously a burn site with nothing remaining to be seen except an old brick chimney and some fences around the perimeter.

Sparrows balance on windblown grasses on a partly cloudy autumn day.

I am not certain what crop was growing in this field, but I believe it is sorghum. I took the photo one afternoon just as the world was turning dark. The falling shadows and gray sky made the stems appear frosted and gave the trees on the horizon a mystic blue tone.

Prairie Wildflower

This prairie wildflower is a single stem...

                                                                         called Broom Weed.

The vase from this angle looks about to slid across the table.

I like how the Broom weed looked in the old bottle.

I love the tiny bright yellow blossoms like asters.

The sunlight reflected on the table turned out a delightful blue

Like a piece of sky coming indoors to join us for lunch!

Old Church Building

 This is a strange old building I found along a dirt road off Hyw.16. It looked very old but it appears to be made of cinder block. So, how old could it be? How did it lose its roof? Why such a large doorway?

 It had church or school style windows. I wonder about its use. Was it burned? It doesn't appear to have burn damage. maybe it was never finished. Maybe it lost its roof in a tornado.

 Can you spot the piece of concrete that is covering the well or cistern?

I love the old fence post and the conglomeration of wires.

A Tire Swing and a Cellar

A dirt driveway meandered off into the woods. I wondered where it led. 

The ruins of an old abandoned house greeted us. Who once lived there? I guessed some grandparents who were visited summers and holidays by happy grandchildren.

 This old tire swing was what caught my eye and made me wonder about the place. Look at the curve of tree limb. The house was a shambles, not safe to explore inside or even around.

The swing, we noticed was hung on a piece of old bailing or fence wire.

The chimney of the fireplace was unusual, made of stone. I can imagine a cold winter night and the family sitting comfortably inside watching a fire.Grandma in her rocking chair and several with blankets wrapped around their shoulders. Grandpa would be telling stories.

Vines and underbrush have nearly taken the house. Soon it will collapse and the prairie take back the land.

An old cellar sat beside the house at the back of the property.

This cellar was like a dugout cut into the banks so that the roof was barely above the level of the ground.

This cellar's door was gone. It would be a place for kids to play on hot days and for the family to hide out during tornado weather. Pretty spooky looking but not a deep or treacherous cellar like some I have found. I enjoy guessing about the people who might have lived in prairie places like this. Did they homestead  and keep the land in the family for many years? Who were they? What were their names?