Bucks, Blackbirds, Butter-and-Eggs...

I took a drive to some favorite, closer-to-home areas Friday since I knew I'd be home today...the Huz is at work and we're babysitting our good friends' toy fox terrier, Lexie...

Here's Lexie, all five lbs of her...a sweet, funny little girl with plenty of energy...

Heading back down Bethlehem Rd., a small flock of turkeys scattered off the road as I approached...

Blue penstemon is now growing on a hillside made up of red clay mud...it had rained the day before...

Butter-and-eggs is now growing since I last stopped at the bridge over Elk Creek...

More mushrooms have sprouted up...

A chipping sparrow checks out the view of a large field from above...

The shell-leaf penstemon is also in bloom now; several types of penstemon (aka beardstongue) grow wild in the Hills...

Heading back out of Bethlehem Rd., I discovered three bucks in the oak grove, all in velvet...

Seeing double? No, it's two of the three bucks...

As I headed E to my favorite grassland county roads, I realized that the wind had picked up considerably, which makes taking photos much more challenging and less enjoyable...but pressing on, I found that the male red-winged blackbirds were still actively courting, despite the gale-force winds...

A meadowlark, clinging to a fence post, looked just as thrilled as I did with the unrelenting wind...

I was surprised to discover prince's plume along one road...I'd only seen it in one spot, much further south near Hot Springs, in previous years. It doesn't grow IN the Hills, but E of the foothills.

Two gorgeous horses eyed me suspiciously...maybe named Salt and Pepper...

A mourning dove, looking pretty but slightly ruffled...

An Eastern kingbird looking surprisingly unruffled in the midst of all that wind...

I took a drive by the large pond on Elk Creek Rd., and found a painted turtle looking like it was walking on water...very choppy water...

An American coot was looking quite ruffled as it bobbed and rolled with the waves...ditto for the eared grebes...

But somehow, amid the blustery turmoil, I was able to get a few good shots of the yellow-headed blackbirds that were all along the fencing and the side of the road. Regardless of adversity, nature plugs ahead!