Springtime in the Red Hills

     Its been a long, mild winter.  I've been away from my blog.  I'm ready for rebirth, for myself and the Red Hills I adore.  With an early spring and the rainfall we've had in the hills so far, the wildflowers are waiting to explode in glorious profusion.  Its been a tough 12 months.  Still officially in drought, the region begs for more precipitation.  But for now, there's enough to stimulate the season's first blossoms.  On a Permian road cut, on the Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway west of Medicine Lodge, the Bladderpods display their showy pride against the backdrop of the iron-rich red soils of the Permian formation.  If the rains continue, the grass, the wildflowers, the amphibians, the cattle, and the people of the Red Hills will rejoice.  If?  Otherwise, the residents of this enchanted land will tough it out until the drought is truly broken.